Google, Apple Lead Massive List of Companies Supporting CISPA 153
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.
really (Score:2, Insightful)
"Oh noes! The people keep voting it down!" (Score:5, Insightful)
"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.
Re:"Oh noes! The people keep voting it down!" (Score:2, Insightful)
Frustrating (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:"Oh noes! The people keep voting it down!" (Score:5, Insightful)
This is how laws are done today. You think a law gets voted down and that's it? Think again. Whenever you see some company not getting its way, be it due to public outcry or be it because even politicians could see that it's not a good idea, rest assured that they won't drop it. It will come back again. In some other form, maybe with less public exposure and much more hushed up, but it WILL COME BACK.
Companies don't back down when it comes to getting their laws approved. They will keep pushing more money into Capitol Hill hos 'til they have enough to actually get it passed.
It's the infromation sharing (Score:3, Insightful)
"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.
Re:Google hates privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
have you thought for one second... to stop using google?
It's not like there's not other mail providers, search providers, and little applets floating around the web that have nothing to do with google. If google's behavior is becoming unacceptable STOP USING IT.
How you people continue to knock a service that is completely free for you to use is beyond me.
Ignorance check: did you know there were major search engines that aren't US based and thus are not subject to CISPA?
4th Amendment disappears (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Google hates privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
Yep. So I guess we have to go back to pre-Internet life according to that guy. I'll stop arranging surprise birthday and Christmas gifts for the people I care about, then. And I'll stop booking tables for my dates online. I'll also wait to consult my doctor for things that look like minor medical concerns, and stick to the offline first-aid book when I can't remember how to treat some minor injury. I'll also just use the old-fashioned phone book to look up each store I want to comparison-shop and call them one by one.
My point is in agreement with yours... Some things just aren't other peoples' business, but that doesn't make those things nefarious.
Uh... you CAN'T stop uing Google anymore (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Google hates privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
have you thought for one second... to stop using google?
Sounds good. OK, quick: Link ten major websites that don't have embedded Google tracking code (including javascript embeds from Google, Google Analytics, Google APIs, Google Code, GStatic, etc). You'll be able to find ten, I'm sure, but it won't be the first ten you try.
Re:"Oh noes! The people keep voting it down!" (Score:5, Insightful)
The assault weapons ban only lasted ten years. So much for only having to win once. Also, calling your political opponents 'bad guys' is childish. They may be wrong, but people don't want to ban guns out of malice. Hell, for the longest time I wanted handguns and assault rifles banned because they really are terrible things. I didn't change my mind because I stopped seeing them as terrible, I changed my mind because I realized that banning such things is impractical in this country. Too many already exist and the technology is too basic to stop enthusiasts. My contempt for tools designed exclusively to kill human beings is still as fervent as ever despite the fact that I no longer support weapon bans.
The way I look at it, owning an assault rifle is like owning a guillotine. Sure, I could use it on an animal, but that wouldn't really be practical as there are many other better tools for the job. It only does one thing well: kill people.
I sympathize with those who want to ban such things, it's pretty easy considering I once felt the same way, but I recognize legislation as a poor solution. I think the main appeal of such weapons to most people is their taboo nature. We'd probably have a lot less handguns and assault rifles in this country is no one was trying to ban them. It's like when you tell a child that something is bad. They immediately want it.
Bad laws rarely die unless those pushing them finally give up.
This doesn't seem very logical to me. My guess is that most laws that are proposed in the legislature 1) are bad 2) die quickly 3) die without those pushing them giving up. What ever made you say such a thing?
Re:Frustrating (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't vote for shitwaffles, but they are the only viable choices out there. Try getting involved in local politics sometime. Once you see how they operate, and filter out all the decent people at an early stage, you'll understand why shitwaffles are the only thing left on the menu.