Amid the massive amount of information coming out on the Boston Marathon bombings, the ultra-invasive Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has passed the House with a vote of 288-127.
Even mainstream media outlets like Yahoo News have highlighted the many threats posed by CISPA, which essentially erodes the Fourth Amendment under the guise of fighting shadow ‘hackers’ without the need for any type of warrant. Under CISPA, private companies would be able to share your data in real time with the United States government and even other corporations — all without a warrant. It’s all very similar to the DHS ‘border’ zones that revoke the Fourth Amendment within 100 miles of the United States national border.
It’s any major corporation’s wet dream to mine user’s data in such a way, and the best part for them is that they cannot be legally held accountable for sharing your information under CISPA guidelines.
While CISPA still needs to go through the Senate and get signed off on by Obama, the fact that 288 votes were mustered within the House in support of legislation that overrides the Constitution is concerning enough.
Major industry titans have spoken out against CISPA, including Congressmen, the founder of top community news website Reddit, and many others. In fact, Congressman Jared Polis says that it is the largest government takeover of personal information he has seen in a long time. The representative from Colorado stated:
“This is the biggest government takeover of personal information that I’ve seen during my time here in Congress.”
Former owner of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, had similar statements. Ohanian has been urging everyone from Google CEO Larry Page to the average tech employee to take a stand against CISPA. He is joined by major organizations like Access, EFF, and others. In the words of Ohanian:
“If someone wants access to our private home or to our mail we would say, Well go get a warrant. Right? CISPA basically says, uh, not necessary. Your digital privacy is irrelevant.”
CISPA is not only intrusive itself, but also paves the way for more ‘cybersecurity’ bills to strip away basic constitutional rights and remove anonymity from the internet altogether. As a cherry on top for big business, it allows for companies like Facebook and Google to lawfully gather all of our personal information and share it as they please. After all, they can’t be pursued legally for it under CISPA.
It should come as no surprise that CISPA was passed without much repercussion due to the Boston Marathon bombings, as in the past we have seen a multitude of freedom-shattering bills like the Patriot Act pass through during holidays or similar distractions.
