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Google, Apple Lead Massive List of Companies Supporting CISPA
redletterdave writes "TechNet, the trade association representing and led by dozens of prominent technology companies including Google, Apple and Facebook, has formally come out in support of CISPA, sending a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives. The letter said: 'We commend the committee for providing liability protections to companies participating in voluntary information-sharing and applaud the committee's efforts to work with a wide range of stakeholders to address issues such as strengthening privacy protections. As the legislative process unfolds, we look forward to continuing the dialogue with you and your colleagues on further privacy protections, including discussions on the role of a civilian interface for information sharing.'"
The White House won't support the bill in its current form, but they plan to work with legislators on a compromise. The current text of the bill is available online.
I'm not surprised to see Google as the main supporter of CISPA. They have a long track record of privacy violations and lessening privacy of internet users. They are, like we all know, worlds largest advertising house.
Google has also been heavily pushing it's real-name policy. They are trying to convert YouTube users to using their real names instead of nicknames. They want to (but don't succeed) have people use their social network Google+, and they want to link everyones searches directly to the real names. Hell, have you noticed how Google's advertisements on other sites like Slashdot change based on what you've been recently searching on Google.
The Internet as we know it is coming to an end. Everyone sees this but doesn't act. They just let Google steal all of their privacy. Google and CISPA must be stopped and it's your only time to act!
"I guess we just have to try EVEN HARDER!"
Seriously, who are these people fooling? ..Then again, people get awfully tired of fighting the same battle over and over again, and often eventually just concede. We need to propose legislation outright forbidding this kind of shit. It's really the only way, else they will just keep shuffling commas and semicolons around in the text, and resubmitting.
All the companies named are from the anal-probe sector of the tech industry.
I think the only reason we were able to beat SOPA/PIPA was that there were some big corporations on our side during that fight. Obviously they've now re-written the bill so that all of the big corporations will profit and only the little people will suffer.
I find this really frustrating. We're forced to fund the federal government under threat of violence and they turn around and use the fruits of our labor to make our lives miserable. They can afford to be relentless in their efforts because it costs them nothing. We defeat SOPA/PIPA (using our free time and after tax income), they just turn around and re-introduce even more sinister legislation in its place.
If you have the slightest wish to give government more wealth and more power e.g. to ban guns, to regulate free speech, to provide healthcare or to fix "climate change" you're out of your bloody mind! Washington DC is literally INCAPABLE of passing ANY legislation which benefits the average working American. Their stated intentions are meaningless. The substance of any new law will be to your detriment no matter what. Just say "No" to everything they propose.
"We commend the committee for providing liability protections to companies participating in voluntary information-sharing and applaud the committee's efforts to work with a wide range of stakeholders to address issues such as strengthening privacy protections," Ramsey said
It's the information sharing - and possibly getting it wrong - that has folks really worried.
It's not so much that Google knows where you have been browsing (extremely creepy and worrying as that is), it's also that they can share the information with Facebook and vice versa. And they can that with 2 companies and they their information with 2 other companies and so on and so on and so on and with government.
And as we have seen with the stupidity and incompetence of government and the private sector, individuals get hurt and sometimes devastated for life and these mega-corps walk away no harm done to them.
And this law, is about making sure no harm comes to them. If by their information sharing, I get wrongfully arrested or worse, I would have no recourse. Even if I get acquitted, I'll have tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, at least and no recourse to recover any it from these companies if this becomes law.
That's the problem.
This is just another sign that corporate America wants to ruin this country's values for their bottom line.
It really seems to me that most of the commenters have no idea what the bill even states. It's like reading the posts of a bunch of fundamental right wing conservatives. A whole bunch of statements which have little to no basis in reality.
Seriously, what power do you think this bill gives the government? If it's the "They can read all my email whenever they want now and are going to see all my HORRIABLE SPAM PORN / Anti-Governemt rantings" power you would be oh so very very wrong.
Sec 1104 (b) (3) (A) shall only be shared in accordance with any restrictions placed on the sharing of such information by the protected entity or self-protected entity authorizing such sharing, including appropriate anonymization or minimization of such information;
Can you people read? Read that. Know what that says? It says that all information shared with the government must be cleaned to not include information on U.S. Persons. Basically if they DO for some reason send your email they have to remove everything that could possibly identify you.
To:immahurpdedur@gmail.com
From:icanhazabrainplox@hotmail.com
Dear Frank,
Don't you just hate Obama?
-
John
Becomes
To:------------------
From:--------------
Dear -------,
Don't you just hate Obama?
-
------------------
OH NOOOO They are gonna catch me now for sure! But in reality they likely can't even send that.
If CISPA passes there will be no such thing as a 4th Amendment right protecting you against unreasonable search and seizure. You see, while the government has to obey the constitution, corporations are bound by no such guarantees--and CISPA makes the data-sharing (data which is already required by the government to be stored for several years for "law enforcement purposes") already commonplace explicitly legal.
It says they CAN clean it if they WANT to... to whatever degree the sharing entity considers to be "appropriate". So if some "protected entity" or "self-protected entity" hands something over, it can restrict downstream sharing. It can require whatever anonymization it wants, including no anonymization if it decides that no anonymization at all is "appropriate".
Who's a "protected entity"? Hint: not you. "an entity, other than an individual, that contracts with a cybersecurity provider for goods or services to be used for cybersecurity purposes.".
Excuse me if I don't believe that every "protected entity" or "self-protected entity" has my best interests at heart.
There is no opt-out for Google anymore. In fact, I dare you to not send an email directly or indirectly to a gmail user (and avoid calling or texting anyone who uses an Android phone) for ONE MONTH. You simply can't do it if you want to communicate at all these days. This is of course not to mention all the other sites that use their analytic services, ad networks, their other subsidiaries, etc.
Please post back here if you succeed with this boycott and still have a job at the end of that month.
It is simply no longer possible to boycott these companies (especially Google) if you want to use the Internet at all. They will have your data (and share it with whoever asks thanks to CISPA) no matter what. :/
We need end-to-end cryptographic security to protect us from such vultures.
1. People are corporations. You now get all the benefit and protection under the law that corporations have. When anybody is born, they are automatically assigned a corporate number or name and they will enjoy all the protections that government and the law have built into corporations. Kill somebody through a leak of deadly chemicals: pay a fine that is a percentage point of your income and walk away. Go bankrupt: just dissolve yourself and start again with a new identity or name. Want a favourable court ruling: just argue about how you, as a corporation would have lost money. Get sued: store all your money in a holding company that you own and don't pay a cent. And if you get big enough: get your own crack legal team, harass Senators and Congressmen, lobby the government, get access to others data. All you have to do is promise to store your email for long enough enough. Heck you don't have to follow any particular country's rules. Just sign a "free trade" agreement with other nations and then you can sue them. Yep, life as a corporation would be great.
Society use your Sciences