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New Cyber Security Bills Open Door To Gov't, Corporate Abuse
Gunkerty Jeb writes with a selection from Threatpost about upcoming legislation to watch out for: "EFF looked at two bills making their way through Congress: The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (S. 2105), sponsored by Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) of Connecticut and the Secure IT Act (S. 2151), sponsored by Senator John McCain (R-AZ). The digital rights group claims that the quality of both bills ranges from 'downright terrible' to 'appropriately intentioned.' Each, however, is conceptually similar and flawed, EFF said."
Something's wrong here... we're getting far to many new copyright powers laws being proposed in Congress, and this sort of nonsense is supposed to be dead in committee and not brought to the floors. Is Hollywood sending too much money to Congress and we're not sending enough?
Well, at least the lobbyists bought the sharpest tools in the tool chest.
the key to our future, as always, is the youth.
the old guys (my age) are too stuck in their ways and they'll never give up their idea of 'ownership' of internet things.
what I do worry about is the total lack of CARING on the part of the young people, today.
they happily sign away their privacy in failbook, give away their emails when any stranger asks and will parade in cow costumes in a mall just to get a 'free' lunch. they do not care! they only see the 'gimme!' side of things. quite blind, actually.
the culture is at fault. we lead our kids to 'buy buy buy!' and if the retailer offers a tiny discount in exchange for their privacy, they don't care! they saved a whole dollar!
the blame is on both sides. corp greed AND the consumer who does not see what is being done to them.
I have zero hope of things improving. but please prove me wrong! I beg you to prove me wrong.
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
quoting:
Of particular concern: a section in both the Lieberman bill and the McCain bills that authorizes monitoring by private firms of any traffic that transits their networks. Ostensibly intended to facilitate private-public information sharing, the passage would grant complete private sector immunity for data monitoring and sharing practices. Private entities would be unbound from the Wiretap Act and other legal limits and immunized against a swath of questionable monitoring practices, EFF claims.
emph mine.
THIS is what's going on. and end-run around US laws. since the US has been repeatedly caught with its hands in the cookie jar, it now tries to get some other kid to take the cookies and shift the blame to them.
sleazy and, yes, fully expected in today's 'government ethics'. ;(
the government learned it can employ corporations to do its black work.
nice, huh?
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
More IT bills introduced by an old fart that has flat-out admitted his computer illiteracy. Heaven help us.
The hardware of the internet was always owned by someone, of course. What changed is the culture. It used to be a culture of production, now it's a culture of consumption.
The internet of the good ol' days consisted of many people who offered ideas, opinions, guides, information, they exchanged them and built on each other, with impunity and gladly. Sure, a lot was trash and even more very specific and only interesting for a minority. But there was room for those thinkers and dreamers. It changed. Today, we have a culture where people don't create, they only want to consume. They want to take, but giving has become anathema to the Internet where you don't give. You sell. And what you don't sell, you patent. And THEN sell it.
A culture of freedom is traded for a culture of commercialism. If you don't consider this a problem, then I guess you're part of the problem.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.