Thread: This is no Joke, they want CISPA to be brought back!!!!!

Dear Congress: which part of HELL NO did you not understand the last two times?

http://CISPAisback.org






CISA is the newest and latest version of a bill that would give the NSA even more powers

CISA is an even more toxic bill than the original CISPA bill. CISA stays in line with the original objective of the CISPA bill to strengthen and legitimize the NSA's surveillance programs. But this time the bill would allow for and encourage sweeping datamining taps on Internet users for the undefined purpose of domestic "cybersecurity". The NSA would be able to share this data with police and other law enforcement agencies for domestic "cybersecurity" purposes - meaning these powers will be used against innocent citizens.
Would you like to read more about CISPA's newest form, CISA? Read some of these articles

1.) Open Technology Institute. "Info Sharing with NSA is a Non-Starter – and Only One of the New Cybersecurity Bill’s Many Problems". Read More
2.) ACLU. "Beware the Dangers of Congress’ Latest Cybersecurity Bill". Read More

Below is more information on the old version of CISPA.

Come back to CISPAisback.org for more updates above on CISA and its scary NSA "upgrades" since the first CISPA.



Big Tech and the NSA both want to pass CISPA. And that should scare you.

Recent news reports reveal that the NSA has been pressuring their most powerful defenders in Congress to reintroduce CISPA -- the Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act. This bill would allow corporations to share our private data with the government more easily, and with complete legal immunity. No wonder NSA chief Keith Alexander has been begging Congress to pass a CISPA bill, and the trade groups led by Google and other tech giants are on board.
At a time when opinion polls and growing dissent show that the public is overwhelmingly opposed to broader government surveillance, anti-privacy members of Congress seem determined to give the NSA and big tech companies what they want, even if it means trampling our rights in the process.
We need to stop CISPA for good this time. We stalled it in the Senate earlier this year, but now Senators Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss are planning to introduce the Senate version of the bill any day now. Just like last time, they'll claim that the privacy concerns have been addressed, even though they've refused to make changes suggested by civil liberties groups. Let's make this the last time they try anything like CISPA. Sign and share the petition now.


What's wrong with CISPA? (in as few words as possible)

As it's written in the version that passed the House, CISPA won't protect us from cyber threats, but it will violate our 4th Amendment right to privacy.

• The NSA wants it badly, because it will give them more access to your data, and give companies immunity for legally shaky programs like PRISM: (read more)
• It lets the government spy on you without a warrant. (read more)
• It makes it so you can’t even find out about it after the fact. (read more)
• It makes it so companies can’t be sued when they do illegal things with your data. (read more)
• It allows corporations to cyber-attack each other and individuals outside of the law. (read more)
• It makes every privacy policy on the web a moot point, and violates the 4th amendment. (read more)

UPDATE! IDL launched the 'Cat Signal' on March 20th, over 30K sites participated including Reddit, Craigslist, and Duck Duck Go. Press Release.


A phone call is worth 100 petition signatures...

CISPA is an urgent threat. We've heard that Congress will be attempting to push it to a floor vote as soon as they return from recess. Last year, CISPA rushed through the house before anyone had time to react. We can't let that happen again. The risks are too great.
Can you pick up the phone right now and call your Congressperson? We need to make sure that every member of Congress hears from their constituency that CISPA is not an option, and voting for it would be a big mistake.
We made this handy tool that lets you find your Congresspersons' phone numbers with just one click. Hit the button below and try it out!
Click here to Call Congress



Which companies will really go to bat for you?




The companies and organizations below have proven their true commitment to user privacy by vocally opposing CISPA. How legit is that? These companies are actually saying, “We want to be sued if we do something illegal with your data.” That’s how you know they are actually taking your privacy seriously. If Google, Twitter, and Facebook are ready to walk the walk, they’ll join this list!
4chan

Amicus

Automattic

Cheezburger, Inc.

Craigslist

Duck Duck Go

Entertainment Consumers Association

Floor 64

Gliph

Girardin Development

Imgur

Mozilla

Namecheap

New York Tech Meetup

Private Internet Access

Reddit

ServInt

TorServers

Add Your Company

Electronic Frontier Foundation originally shared:

NSA spying is unconstitutional. Congress needs to act now. Visit https://StandAgainstSpying.org/ to see where your representative stands.











Where do your representatives stand on illegal surveillance?standagainstspying.org


We're standing against mass spying

We are a coalition of organizations and individuals from across the political spectrum advocating for transparency and an end to mass surveillance. Read our story.

We've rated each member of Congress on his or her actions to end or promote mass surveillance. Read about our methodology.



Dear Mr. President:

As citizens of the Internet, we believe that mass surveillance by the NSA and its global partners infringes on our civil liberties, runs contrary to democratic principles, and chills free expression.
We’re calling on you to take immediate steps to end the mass spying. Specifically, we urge you to stop the mass collection and retention of telephone records and Internet communications of hundreds of millions of people who are not suspected of a crime.
In addition, we call on you to provide a full public accounting of the intelligence community’s mass surveillance practices.
We recognize that Congress has an important role to play in passing legislation to ban mass surveillance. However, you are not obligated to wait for Congress to act. The Executive branch started mass surveillance and can end it now. We also urge you to embrace new levels of transparency around America's surveillance activities. Only through transparency can we trust that reform has occurred.
Surveillance should be targeted. It should be only what is necessary and proportionate to the alleged crime. Surveillance should be authorized by an independent court with access to a full, factual record, facing the potential for scrutiny by a public advocate. Above all, it must not sweep in the records of hundreds of millions of people with little discernment.
Once you have reined in the NSA spying programs, join us in asking Congress to enact reform to ensure mass spying is permanently outlawed.
Sincerely,
Your name here




https://standagainstspying.org/

Wangy Wagnols originally shared:

The NSA's Favorite Law is Up For a Vote Soon.
-
http://www.cispaisback.org/






The NSA's favorite law is up for a vote soon.cispaisback.org





Beware the Dangers of Congress’ Latest Cybersecurity Bill


06/27/2014
Cybersecurity


By Sandra Fulton, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:52pm

A new cybersecurity bill poses serious threats to our privacy, gives the government extraordinary powers to silence potential whistleblowers, and exempts these dangerous new powers from transparency laws.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014 ("CISA") was scheduled to be marked up by the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday but has been delayed until after next week's congressional recess. The response to the proposed legislation from the privacy, civil liberties, tech, and open government communities was quick and unequivocal – this bill must not go through.

The bill would create a massive loophole in our existing privacy laws by allowing the government to ask companies for "voluntary" cooperation in sharing information, including the content of our communications, for cybersecurity purposes. But the definition they are using for the so-called "cybersecurity information" is so broad it could sweep up huge amounts of innocent Americans' personal data.

The Fourth Amendment protects Americans' personal data and communications from undue government access and monitoring without suspicion of criminal activity. The point of a warrant is to guard that protection. CISA would circumvent the warrant requirement by allowing the government to approach companies directly to collect personal information, including telephonic or internet communications, based on the new broadly drawn definition of "cybersecurity information."

While we hope many companies would jealously guard their customers' information, there is a provision in the bill that would excuse sharers from any liability if they act in "good faith" that the sharing was lawful.

Collected information could then be used in criminal proceedings, creating a dangerous end-run around laws like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which contain warrant requirements.

In addition to the threats to every American's privacy, the bill clearly targets potential government whistleblowers. Instead of limiting the use of data collection to protect against actual cybersecurity threats, the bill allows the government to use the data in the investigation and prosecution of people for economic espionage and trade secret violations, and under various provisions of the Espionage Act.

It's clear that the law is an attempt to give the government more power to crack down on whistleblowers, or "insider threats," in popular bureaucratic parlance. The Obama Administration has brought more "leaks" prosecutions against government whistleblowers and members of the press than all previous administrations combined. If misused by this or future administrations, CISA could eliminate due process protections for such investigations, which already favor the prosecution.

While actively stripping Americans' privacy protections, the bill also cloaks "cybersecurity"-sharing in secrecy by exempting it from critical government transparency protections. It unnecessarily and dangerously provides exemptions from state and local sunshine laws as well as the federal Freedom of Information Act. These are both powerful tools that allow citizens to check government activities and guard against abuse.
Edward Snowden's revelations from the past year, of invasive spying programs like PRSIM and Stellar Wind, have left Americans shocked and demanding more transparency by government agencies. CISA, however, flies in the face of what the public clearly wants.

(Two coalition letters, here and here, sent to key members of the Senate yesterday detail the concerns of a broad coalition of organizations, including the ACLU.)

https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-s...rsecurity-bill

Wednesday, 16 July 2014 10:11

Senate Moves Closer to Seizing Control of Cyberspace

Written by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.

Just when you thought it was safe to get back on the Internet.
Tuesday, the Senate Select Committee passed the Cyber Information Security Act (CISA) by a vote of 12-3. This clears another hurdle in the path toward consideration by the body of the Senate.
CISA is in large part a substantially similar redux of other Internet-security bills that have been knocked around by Congress over the years. Last year, for example, a controversial cousin of CISA called the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) made it through the House of Representatives. It couldn’t survive Senate scrutiny, however, and died amid allegations of privacy privations.


“The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA),” reports Julian Hattem from The Hill, “makes it possible for companies and government agencies to share information about possible hackers and security weaknesses with each other, which advocates say is critical to make sure that blind spots aren’t left untended for long.”

One of the new bill’s sponsors, Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), believes that the measure would facilitate the effort of government and business to combat cyber-attacks by easing the exchange of critical data between the two entities.
VPN Creative reports that Feinstein said, “Every week, we hear about the theft of personal information from retailers and trade secrets from innovative businesses, as well as ongoing efforts by foreign nations to hack government networks ... this bill is an important step toward curbing these dangerous cyber-attacks.”

Privacy groups, however, know a government power grab when they see one.

After the bill passed out of committee, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) joined a group of 35 civil society organizations, companies, and security experts that sent a letter appealing to President Obama to veto CISA (S. 258. The letter states:
CISA fails to offer a comprehensive solution to cybersecurity threats. Further, the bill contains inadequate protections for privacy and civil liberties. Accordingly, we request that you promptly pledge to veto CISA. We also request that you issue a similar veto threat for any future legislation that takes a similar approach on information sharing. A robust approach to cybersecurity is necessary to protect the security of the internet and those who use it.

The letter goes on to point out that this latest incarnation of an Internet control bill makes little more than “cosmetic changes to CISPA":
CISA presents many of the same problems the Administration previously identified with CISPA in its veto threat. Privacy experts have pointed out how CISA would damage the privacy and civil liberties of users. Language in CISA, like CISPA, also bypasses the Administration’s previously stated preference of having a civilian agency lead U.S. cybersecurity efforts in favor of automatic and simultaneous transfer of cybersecurity information to U.S. intelligence agencies, like the National Security Agency.

In a blog post announcing its contribution to the letter, EFF says of CISA:
The bill fails to provide privacy protections for Internet users and allows information sharing in a wide variety of circumstances that could potentially harm journalists and whistleblowers. Like its previous iterations, it also contains overbroad immunity from lawsuits for corporations that share information. As the letter points out, it even contains “a broad new categorical exemption from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, the first since the Act’s passage in 1966.”

This is similar to the group’s criticism of CISPA. In 2013, EFF said that the data the government is targeting with CISPA included medical records, credit reports, and most other “personally identifiable information” that might be caught in a cybersecurity net.

As pointed out above, the National Security Agency (NSA) is the primary beneficiary of all this data mining masquerading as cybersecurity.
Agents of this domestic surveillance mammoth would need no warrant before approaching Internet companies with requests for their customers’ otherwise private information.

Regarding CISA, EFF claims it “jeopardizes the foundation of cybersecurity by improperly pitting human rights against security.”
The signatories to the letter to the president urging him to veto CISA recommend adoption of a bill that “would both defend and extend civil liberties and the right to privacy of users globally.”

Defense of civil liberty — even in cyberspace — is crucial, especially in light of President Obama’s insistence that “the cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation” and that “America's economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity.”

As is the case with CISA and so many other federal programs that are steadily and stealthily chipping away at our civil liberties that are the very foundation of our Republic, the will in Washington is to place every aspect of the lives of every American under the close watch of the federal government.

Accordingly, CISA, despite its many unconstitutional provisions, seems tailored this time to garner just enough support in Congress to actually make it to the president’s desk.

And, contrary to President Obama’s declaration that American prosperity depends on cybersecurity, friends of freedom know that the perpetuation of our Republic and the rights we enjoy depends on a return to first principles of liberty and a fearless defense of the Constitution that stands as sentinel of the natural rights granted to all men by their Creator.

For now, government monitoring of the Internet as authorized by CISA seems rejuvenated while Internet privacy slouches closer to death.

Joe A. Wolverton, II, J.D. is a correspondent for The New American and travels nationwide speaking on nullification, the Second Amendment, the surveillance state, and other constitutional issues. Follow him on Twitter @TNAJoeWolverton and he can be reached at jwolverton@thenewamerican.com.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews...7660-287785873


Wake up America!!!

Sign the petition to stop the new CISPA (CISA):

To Congress: "I oppose CISA, the new CISPA, and any bill that would give the NSA more power to violate my rights


http://www.cispaisback.org/