Do You Really Want Companies Doing the Feds' Dirty Work?



CISPA bill obliterates Internet privacy



We strongly urge President Obama to Veto The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA, or HR 3523).  Despite White House objections (Obama has not actually threatened a veto), the House voted on Thursday to pass the bill voting 248-168 in favor.

Have you heard about tomorrow's scheduled CISPA vote in the U.S. House of Representatives? UNLESS YOU ACT NOW, CONGRESS AND INTERNET COMPANIES ARE GOING TO ENTER INTO A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL TO MAKE ANYTHING YOU DO ONLINE SUBJECT TO REPORTING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT.

Going all the way back to the original Patriot Act following 9/11, it seems as if every person and agency wielding power in the United States is literally looking for ways to sacrifice essential liberties in the name of non-existent security.

And at the forefront of the battle to weigh security vs. liberty stands the Internet—the greatest tool for freedom mankind has ever devised, dwarfing even the printing press as a means for citizens to stop the horrors of government before they arise.

Those who seek to monitor and control the citizenry cannot stand the idea of unfettered, private communications. Unfortunately, those people are often legislators, with the full power of an out-of-control Congress to use to impose their will.

The latest threat to our freedom is H.R. 3523, known as CISPA—the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. It will almost certainly pass the U.S. House on Friday unless you act now!

This abomination (whose operative word in its title is "Sharing") will literally allow any company connected with your online activities to examine, collect, and pass along to whatever party they feel is appropriate ANYTHING they deem to be even remotely connected with "cybersecurity."

Worse, the bill includes language that exempts companies who do so from liability. In other words, if they trash your life, at least they had a valid reason to do so.

Strangely enough, many Internet companies actually support CISPA! True, the liability exemption makes them breathe easier, but why would they support CISPA when they adamantly opposed previous anti-privacy Internet bills such as the failed SOPA?

Because CISPA gives them the right to troll through anything they want if it will help the "cybersecurity" of their business—and under the provisions of the bill there is NOTHING you can do about it!

Bigwigs in control of our information flow, such as Facebook's Vice President of U.S. Public Policy Joel Kaplan, assure us we have nothing to fear. While acknowledging in a company blog post that the problem with CISPA is that "companies will share sensitive personal information with the government in the name of protecting cybersecurity," he goes on to state that "“Facebook has no intention of doing this."

That's not very reassuring when one considers that just last year Facebook was caught with its hand in the literal cookie jar, when it admitted it used "persistent cookies" to monitor web destinations of users even after they had logged out of their accounts.

But really, what Internet companies happen to think about YOUR PRIVACY has nothing to do with the issue at hand! The issue is that Americans are disgusted by the idea of someone whose services we use (NOT someone who "owns" the Internet) trolling through our private communications and then sharing them with the Feds in a totally who-cares manner!

 Click here NOW to derail Congress' runaway train of privacy destruction!

Sincerely,

P.S.: President Barack Obama has indicated that he, too, has problems with the CISPA bill—but he is reluctant to go so far as to say he will veto it. Should the bill pass Congress it is ironic that someone as anti-freedom as Obama may be the Internet's last hope.

P.P.S.: We're looking at nothing less than the definition of freedom in America with this bill. If we allow Congress to partner with Internet companies to share EVERYTHING with the feds, then we are but targets-in-waiting for the State!