Facebook Says It Has 'No Intention' To Abuse CISPA

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook is supporting the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), despite opposing the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). SOPA and PIPA were about intellectual property, and allowed courts to remove DNS listings for any website hosting pirated content. CISPA is meanwhile about security, and makes it possible for companies to share user information with the U.S. government (and vice versa) if the parties believe it is needed for the greater cyber security good. That being said, CISPA has loopholes that allow it to be abused, especially when it comes to Intellectual Property and privacy. Facebook says it will not do that, and will instead work on closing these loopholes."

Re:Because, Lord knows...

[HarrySquatter]

How is it "invading" someone's privacy when they willingly give away their personal information to you?

Merely "legalizing" the sharing of Private Data

[dryriver]

It is my firm belief that Google, Facebook and other "Big Players" who collect user-data for a living have been sharing all sorts of supposedly "private" user data with various governments for years, without ever talking publicly about this happening, or saying/doing anything that would confirm in any way that this - probably - illegal sharing of data is taking place. CISPA to the rescue: Now, when someone using these services complains or sues about their private data being handed to some government or govt agency, they can simply say: "We checked out your data briefly because of suspicion of a security threat. We found nothing, and deleted your data again. This is all perfectly legal under the rights-of-action granted by CISPA." To put it more simply, Google, FB & Others will continue what they have been doing all along - sharing your data with all sorts of other parties without informing you and without having your consent. But now, if a legal problem or challenge arises from doing this, they can simply invoke the relevant section of CISPA, and it all becomes perfectly legal. In no way can Google, FB & Friends be held liable or accountable for passing your private data on to others anymore. What a terrific law this is! Just what Google, FB & Friends have always wanted...

"We Won't Abuse CISPA"

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

"We'll use it, EXACTLY as intended!"

"Abusing" CISPA would involve actions like demanding due process for actions by police and government agencies, or insisting on Warrants in the case of investigations and seizures. Facebook intends no such thing.

Welcome to the desert of the real.