'Privacy killer' CISPA is coming back

[nsane.forums]

Dubbed a "privacy killer" by online activists, love it or hate it, the cyber-security CISPA bill will likely be brought into law—whether it's from the reintroduction of the bill by the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, or President Obama issuing (yet another) executive order.

Oh, those crazy kids in Washington are back on it again.

In just one week, both the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned that U.S. critical national infrastructure—including water, electricity, and gas networks—were vulnerable to hackers and the U.S. could be hit by a "cyber-9/11".

Napolitano even urged Congress to pass legislation governing areas of cyber-security so that the .U.S government could share information with the private sector, which may help prevent cyber-attacks on infrastructure critical to U.S. national security.

So, that's what they're planning to do. And you can stamp your feet as much as you want, the way it's looking, the proposals will be brought into law whether you like it or not.

And for the record, I'll be there stamping my feet with you.

The cyber-security bill, dubbed CISPA—the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act— that was shelved once it passed the U.S. House after the U.S. Senate began work on its own set of measures.

It would have effectively given the green card to American private-sector businesses to hand ordinary citizen data (and therefore potential intelligence) back to the U.S. government in order to thwart primarily cyber-attacks—but also what could potentially be terrorist attacks.

This, as you might expect, caused an uproar among the online community who believed that private companies could effectively hand over data—such as cell phone records, email records, and even Facebook and Twitter data—directly into the hands of U.S. intelligence.

Even the White House was concerned, and threatened to veto the bill altogether.

But now, there are two separate reports that suggest CISPA could be heading back to the Congressional table, but also that President Obama may bypass his lawmakers altogether and issue his own executive order.

First off, according to The Hill, ranking member of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) said he plans to reintroduce CISPA back into the House. By working with the White House directly, Ruppersberger hopes to alleviate some of the government's concerns.

Failing that, however, Obama could issue an executive order on the matter as soon as next week, according to Bloomberg's sources. It's expected to be released just after the State of the Union address this coming Tuesday.

CISPA was a tricky law to get your head around. It defined cyber-security threats as efforts to "disrupt, degrade, destroy or gain unauthorized access to any system or network, whether privately owned (by a company) or owned by government," said ZDNet's Violet Blue, who covered the topic extensively and in great detail.

But arguments have been made that suggest such attempts to "disrupt [or] degrade" a network—commonly known as a denial-of-service (DoS) attack—could in fact be a method of online protest.

While some questioned whether DoS or DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack are the modern equivalent of a sit-in protest, it is now a matter for the courts to decide, reports Techdirt. The argument is that in some cases it is not a malicious act. There is no malware and nothing is stolen. It is, arguably, when carried for the sole reason of protesting, the same as creating an impromptu flash-mob protest, except using a computer rather a person's physical being.

There was even a petition to the White House on the topic in the last few days that failed to gain traction. Only 6,000 people signed the petition, while 25,000 signatures were needed during a 30-day period to see it earn an official response. (The White House now needs four-times as many signatures after one petition asked the U.S. government to build a Death Star.)

Privacy activist Asher Wolf told ReadWrite last month: "There is no way in hell the White House will ever legalize DDoS."

But as CISPA rears its ugly ahead again, as will those pesky activists who fight on our behalf for our online freedoms and privacy protection.

Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Firefox browser-maker Mozilla, and Reporters Without Borders, among many others, all opposed the Bill.

The bill was, however, supported by AT&T, Facebook, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Symantec, Verizon, and others—although, it was strange considering only months before many of the aforementioned firms came out against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which led to the effectively shuting down of the Web for a day.

The CISPA threat led to the Internet Defense League—a threat-level group set up after the SOPA revolt—calling to arms, and asking everyone who cares about online freedom and privacy to get involved to prevent CISPA from becoming law. In a statement, the group that these "bills would end online privacy, treating everyone like criminals instead of making us more secure."

Despite Obama's warnings that he would veto CISPA the first time around, as the past has dictated, if Congress doesn't play ball then the President will just take it and sign an executive order anyway.

View: Original Article

[Ambrocious]

Obama is officially a dictator if he enacts this by executive order! Recently, news had come out that it's supposedly now OK to kill American citizens via drone attacks ON United States soil. For those of you who don't know, this is a VERY BIG DEAL. Ever since September 11th of 2001, the United States has been fully in use by the world elite on their world domination agenda. Those who give in peacefully to the twisted power structure will adopt a system of control over their people to form new generations of modern enslavement and impoverished people. This will be enforced by the United States Government, under the authority of the world elite until eventually a whole world government is fully erected; out of the ashes and rubble of WWIII. The most powerful nations will be in charge of enforcing International Law which restricts many basic freedoms by turning basic human rights into "privileges".

Those who wish to destroy freedom believe that they are the unstoppable force. I volunteer myself to become an immovable object in the fight against global tyranny. I can hear the war drums beat and I am reminded of the Lord of the Rings moment when Gandalf read from the last testimony of the Dwarf's. Drums, drums in the deep. This is the reality of things. It is harsh and hard to believe but it is true. We face an all out attack on freedom but we MUST fight. There is no other option. Think about that.

Resist how you can. I see the present article which I am responding to and the reason I jabber onward in a tirade is because I see what this leads to if it is NOT defeated. Every man, woman, and child is in danger of losing basic freedoms to even survive. China has long since enforced their one child policy as a format of control over their own people. Granted China is overpopulated but that is besides the ethical point here. The problem is that the whole world is adopting so many freedom eliminating rules and laws, it all looks eerily as though the governments of the world are expecting major Earth changing events or something. We cannot be the aggressors in this fight though, at least not physically. We have to stop being afraid first.

Freedom of a non hostile Internet without the fear of judgement for downloading music and movies; simple entertainment to keep us from wanting to kill ourselves for not enjoying this god awful world we currently live in. Life can be a beautiful place...but not if we don't fight for it. Let the enemy hit first, the one who strikes first has LOST the war on moral standards and is globally and naturally seen as the aggressor. Wars began with no reason but fear of being attacked is a war lead without consideration of truth.

I'm going to stop being sorry for being real online. I do not fear ridicule any longer. I realize the dire straights we all look out into. I understand that people are victims of a system that has been lying to us for over periods of time, so far in fact that this system of control and keeping the general public ignorant for thousands of years now. People are controlled when they have no ability to steer their own life. If we are nothing more than animals, fine then, lets just not give a shit. But...if we are human beings who KNOW that it is our responsibility to do what is right (you feel it in your heart) then you just have to do it or you wound your spirit and it becomes unwilling to motivate you to defending your own life. Hopelessness is the master over people who have no control of life.

You must first see that you have been programmed in some way or another. Forget about those who make fun of you for stepping out of bounds and doing something new. Many people are balled up burning balls of light which can transform this planet into something worth living for but most of those people have been psychologically stepped on, made to feel inferior and unable to achieve a form of whole power that is responsible for great things and many neat new things. People need to take their power back that has been stolen from us on the inside.

Don't let the system tear out your heart and call you a loser. You are so much more powerful than you know.

[Ambrocious]

I need to make short and mindless comments perhaps....those get noticed.

[calguyhunk]

I need to make short and mindless comments perhaps....those get noticed.

See what I did there? :dance2:

[Ambrocious]

Pizza.

[ande]

Pizza.

Fight CISPA?

First step: burning my digital fingerprints with soldering iron :rolleyes:

[Mortal]

I need to make short and mindless comments perhaps....those get noticed.

"Conspiracy!" would prrobably sum up most of your posts (without the ranting essays or wack-job Infowars video links too). :rolleyes:

[Ambrocious]

I need to make short and mindless comments perhaps....those get noticed.

"Conspiracy!" would prrobably sum up most of your posts (without the ranting essays or wack-job Infowars video links too). :rolleyes:

I feel so sorry for you. Do some research before claiming it's a conspiracy theory. I enjoy helping people to understand what is happening because people are being lied to by the higher ups. Things don't add up. The definition of a "conspiracy theorist" is that we question known liars, namely the government. Is it a bad thing that I question known liars?