CISPA Bill Obliterates Privacy Laws With Blank Check of Privacy Invasion 192
MojoKid writes "At present, the government's ability to share data on its citizens is fairly restricted, insomuch as the various agencies must demonstrate cause and need. This has created a somewhat byzantine network of guidelines and laws that must be followed — a morass of red tape that CISPA is intended to cut through. One of the bill's key passages is a provision that gives private companies the right to share cybersecurity data with each other and with the government 'notwithstanding any other provision of law.' The problem with this sort of blank check clause is that, even if the people who write the law have only good intentions, it provides substantial legal cover to others who might not. Further, the core problem with most of the proposed amendments to the bill thus far isn't that they don't provide necessary protections, it's that they seek to bind the length of time the government can keep the data it gathers, or the sorts of people it can't collect data on, rather than protecting citizens as a whole. One proposed amendment, for example, would make it illegal to monitor protesters — but not other groups. It's not hard to see how those seeking to abuse the law could find a workaround — a 'protester' is just a quick arrest away from being considered a 'possible criminal risk.'"
Re:Home of the free and the land of the brave? (Score:4, Funny)
Bricka bracka firecracker CIS-boom-PA!
Creeping fascism! Creeping fascism! RAH RAH RAH!
Re:Home of the free and the land of the brave? (Score:2, Funny)
Just tell yourself it's all temporary measures necessary to defeat the evil $EXTERNAL_ENEMY. As soon as the $EXTERNAL_ENEMY are defeated everyone can have their freedom back. Unless, of course, a new threat is constructed, in which case everything will be back to normal right after that threat too is neutralized.
Don't worry about it, citizen. If you insist on thinking about such things your friendly government will give you a free vacation in a beautiful Caribbean island.
Who didn't see this coming? (Score:4, Funny)
They told me if I voted for John McCain, we'd see even more invasions of privacy than under George W. Bush, and they were right!
Re:Despair is starting to set in (Score:4, Funny)
Not to mention you have to have a crime to charge him with, then impeach him, then convict him (which actually gets him out of office). And then we would have Biden...
I felt the same way during the last administration when people started talking about impeaching Bush - I'm no fan, but I'll take Jar Jar Binks over Emperor Palpatine any day of the week.