Meet CISPA, Son of SOPA

The EU is fighting the secret ACTA trade agreement, while India seeks to pass an Internet Censorship law. Surprised?

SOPA isn’t dead, just redesigned. Meet CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which picks up where SOPA left off. Similar legislation is being rushed into law by countries all over the world, including Canada, Belarus. Paralegal.net have produced an infographic which explains CISPA:

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are: you need to tell your government “No.”

As this infographic points out, when corporate interests diverge from citizen interests, we’re on our own. We have some great online resources, and many outspoken Internet freedom fighters, but we can no longer expect right to triumph just because its right. Because the other side can afford to hire lobbyists.

If we want right to triumph we have to speak up for it.

Make a phone call, send a letter or an email.

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Alt Text for the InfoGraphic:

WTF is CISPA

While protesters were occupied with SOPA, a new cybersecurity bill snuck its way into congressional consideration. Introducing CISPA: What it is, where it came from, and why it makes SOPA look like amateur hour.

CISPA GIVES THE GOVERNMENT ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN A WHOLE NEW WAY

WHAT IS IT?

CISPA = Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act

It allows both private businesses and the government to share information about cyberthreats.

That doesn’t sound so bad.

But what’s a cyberthreat?

According to CISPA:

Cyberthreats are supposed to be anything making “efforts to degrade, disrupt or destroy” vital nerworks.

Or anything that makes a “threat or misappropriation” of information owned by the government or private businesses.

SO WHAT DOES IT REALLY DO?

While SOPA put companies at risk for subscriber activity, CISPA rewards companies for:

• collecting data,
• intercepting or modifying communications,
• providing the government with information.

And unlike SOPA, CISPA doesn’t threaten the business interests of web companies.

So we shouldn’t expect their help in fighting the bill.

In fact, companies already supporting CISPA include:

• AT&T
• Verizon
• Facebook,
• Microsoft,
• IBM,
• Intel

and over 25 other organizations, all of which play a role in how you communicate.

SCARED YET?

Then you should also know that:

Information collected from you is “proprietary,”
meaning you don’t have the right to know what’s being gathered.

Under CISPA, companies can also share your

• Names,
• Addresses,
• Phone Numbers

from the data they give to the government.

CISPA ALREADY HAS OVER 100 CONGRESSIONAL CO-SPONSORS.

But it’s just now beginning to appear on the public radar.

If you share any information that the government or corporations find “inconvenient,” you could soon be labelled as a security threat, making your web activity subject to constant surveillance.

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CREATED BY: PARALEGAL.NET
Sources:
http://rt.com/usa/news/cispa-bill-sopa-internet-175/
http://mashable.com/2012/04/08/could-cispa-be-the-next-sopa/
http://digitaljournal.com/article/322396/
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-grid/cispa-the-internet-finds-new-enemy-sopa/
http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/04/05/cispa-the-new-sopa/
http://occupyallstreets.tumblr.com/post/20614523602/
This work is under a Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives

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