#CISPA’s Coming Back: Time to Pay Attention Again

Update: The President’s cybersecurity Executive Order was  signed and released today (see the Wired article). “Although the order comes after a number of failed attempts by Congress last year to pass cybersecurity legislation, the White House has indicated that it doesn’t see the executive order as a substitute for legislation, and the order even indicates that further legislation is not ruled out in addressing the critical infrastructure issue.”

@YourAnonNews: It’s official #CISPA is back. A law that violates your basic right to privacy. Sign & share this petition to stop it: bit.ly/VSuCiz

Lots of illegal things happen, everywhere, every day. People smuggle guns, drugs, and other people in cars and on their persons, to buildings and houses. Even so, authorities aren’t allowed to search an individual, their car, or their home without cause. There are strict limits on invasion of privacy for a reason. The biggest problem with CISPA (and similar bills) is the weakness of the requirements.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but: modern government is happy to pass the kind of bill that allows men with badges into your home on a whim, patdowns and strip searches at checkpoints on the streets. Only, the laws are already long-established for that kind of privacy, so they’ll get all they can online.

I’m an average person. I don’t pay super close attention to politics, to bills, to laws. I’m sure there are nuances and arguments to be made. And after all those nuances and arguments are done with, it will still come back to those basic rights, being taken away because it’s the Internet is still a brand new venue.

What You Must Do

Start paying attention again.

Watch President Obama’s State of the Union tonight at 9pm ET, see what he has to say.

Read up when they reintroduce CISPA tomorrow.

In the meantime, feel free to bone up on what this is all about:

• Wikipedia: Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act
• Mashable: CISPA Cybersecurity Bill Is Coming Back Wednesday
• RT: Obama to ‘bypass Congress’ on CISPA with cybersecurity executive order (this one is pretty vague, which is why I’ll be watching the SotU tonight)
• Anonymous: CISPA is Back
• BoingBoing: CISPA is SOPA 2.0: petition to stop it (From April 2012)
• EFF: Rogers’ “Cybersecurity” Bill Is Broad Enough to Use Against WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay (March 2012)

Happy, ever-vigilant days,
Jen McCown
http://www.MidnightDBA.com/Jen