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Republican House passes, and Obama endorses, expansion of surveillance (PCNA)
Remember when we fought off CISPA? Well, they're at it again, and this new bill is an even greater expansion of mass surveillance than before, as well as an assault on the ability of investigative journalists to do their job. In the words of one of the 55 civil liberties groups now expressing outrage, this bill "is little more than a backdoor for general purpose surveillance.”
Worse, the White House is publicly endorsing it.
Even worse, the PCNA is soon to be followed by another assault on privacy, The Cyber Information Sharing Act (CISA).
Civil liberties groups are trying to amass pressure for a presidential veto. Write, call, visit, and demand that this assault be stopped:
http://act.freepress.net/sign/internet_surveillance_cisa_obama/?t=4&akid=5193.9747712.Mo81SW
House Passes Cybersecurity Bill Despite Privacy Protests
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/house-passes-cybersecurity-bill-despite-privacy-protests/
....
“PCNA would significantly increase the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) access to personal information, and authorize the federal government to use that information for a myriad of purposes unrelated to cybersecurity,” reads a letter signed earlier this week by 55 civil liberties groups and security experts that includes the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Human Rights Watch and many others.
....
Specifically, PCNA’s data-sharing privileges let companies give data to government agencies—including the NSA—that might otherwise have violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act or the Wiretap Act, both of which restrict the sharing of users’ private data with the government. And PCNA doesn’t even restrict the use of that shared information to cybersecurity purposes; its text also allows the information to be used for investigating any potential threat of “bodily harm or death,” opening its application to the surveillance of run-of-the-mill violent crimes like robbery and carjacking.
....
“I’m very disappointed that the house has passed an information sharing bill that does so much to threaten Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and no real effort was made to address the problems the bill still had,” says Greene. “The rules committee has excluded amendments that would have resolved privacy concerns…“This is little more than a backdoor for general purpose surveillance.”
In a surprise move yesterday, the White House also publicly backed PCNA and its Senate counterpart, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act in a statement to press. That’s a reversal of its threat to veto a similar Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act in 2013 over privacy concerns, a decision that all but killed the earlier attempt at cybersecurity data sharing legislation. Since then, however, a string of high-profile breaches seems to have swayed President Obama’s thinking, from the cybercriminal breaches of Target and health insurer Anthem that spilled millions of users’ data, to the devastating hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which the FBI has claimed was perpetrated as an intimidation tactic by the North Korean government to prevent the release of its Kim Jong-un assassination comedy the Interview.
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/house-passes-cybersecurity-bill-despite-privacy-protests/
....
“PCNA would significantly increase the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) access to personal information, and authorize the federal government to use that information for a myriad of purposes unrelated to cybersecurity,” reads a letter signed earlier this week by 55 civil liberties groups and security experts that includes the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Human Rights Watch and many others.
....
Specifically, PCNA’s data-sharing privileges let companies give data to government agencies—including the NSA—that might otherwise have violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act or the Wiretap Act, both of which restrict the sharing of users’ private data with the government. And PCNA doesn’t even restrict the use of that shared information to cybersecurity purposes; its text also allows the information to be used for investigating any potential threat of “bodily harm or death,” opening its application to the surveillance of run-of-the-mill violent crimes like robbery and carjacking.
....
“I’m very disappointed that the house has passed an information sharing bill that does so much to threaten Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and no real effort was made to address the problems the bill still had,” says Greene. “The rules committee has excluded amendments that would have resolved privacy concerns…“This is little more than a backdoor for general purpose surveillance.”
In a surprise move yesterday, the White House also publicly backed PCNA and its Senate counterpart, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act in a statement to press. That’s a reversal of its threat to veto a similar Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act in 2013 over privacy concerns, a decision that all but killed the earlier attempt at cybersecurity data sharing legislation. Since then, however, a string of high-profile breaches seems to have swayed President Obama’s thinking, from the cybercriminal breaches of Target and health insurer Anthem that spilled millions of users’ data, to the devastating hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which the FBI has claimed was perpetrated as an intimidation tactic by the North Korean government to prevent the release of its Kim Jong-un assassination comedy the Interview.
House passes bill allowing corporations to share your data
http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/23/house-passes-protecting-cyber-networks-act/
....
The issue appears to be the bill's lack of specificity. The PCNA would allow for data to flow between corporations via a government intermediary. Crucially, there are provisions that would allow the government to use these data outside of cyber threats. The civil liberties groups criticize the bill for allowing any data to also be used with the Espionage Act, making it ripe for abuse for things such as surveillance of journalists and their sources. While all this is going on, there's still the very real threat of more large scale attacks on corporations that could expose this very same data to anyone on the internet. The bill is still being finalized as it awaits approval from the Senate.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/23/house-passes-protecting-cyber-networks-act/
....
The issue appears to be the bill's lack of specificity. The PCNA would allow for data to flow between corporations via a government intermediary. Crucially, there are provisions that would allow the government to use these data outside of cyber threats. The civil liberties groups criticize the bill for allowing any data to also be used with the Espionage Act, making it ripe for abuse for things such as surveillance of journalists and their sources. While all this is going on, there's still the very real threat of more large scale attacks on corporations that could expose this very same data to anyone on the internet. The bill is still being finalized as it awaits approval from the Senate.
18 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Was just posting one of your excellent lists in another place (full credit of course). You never know who will see it next.
Red vs. Blue = Oligarchy Theater for the masses.
by woo me with science
Mass spying on Americans? Both parties support it.
Handing the internet to corporations? Both parties support it.
Austerity for the masses? Both parties support it.
Cutting social safety nets? Both parties support it.
Corporatists in the cabinet? Both parties support it.
Tolling our interstate highways? Both parties support it.
Corporate education policy? Both parties support it.
Bank bailouts? Both parties support it.
Ignoring the trillions stashed overseas? Both parties support it.
Trans-Pacific Job/Wage Killing Secret Agreement? Both parties support it.
TISA corporate overlord agreement? Both parties support it.
Drilling and fracking? Both parties support it.
Wars on medical marijuana instead of corrupt banks? Both parties support it.
Deregulation of the food industry? Both parties support it.
GMO's? Both parties support it.
Privatization of the TVA? Both parties support it.
Immunity for telecoms? Both parties support it.
"Looking forward" and letting war criminals off the hook? Both parties support it.
Deciding torturers are patriots? Both parties support it.
Militarized police and assaults on protesters? Both parties support it.
Indefinite detention? Both parties support it.
Drone wars and kill lists? Both parties support it.
Targeting of journalists and whistleblowers? Both parties support it.
Private prisons replacing public prisons? Both parties support it.
Unions? Both parties view them with contempt.
Trillion dollar increase in nuclear weapons. Both parties support it.
New war in Iraq. Both parties support it.
New war in Syria. Both parties support it.
Carpet bombing of captive population in Gaza. Both parties support it.
Selling off swaths of the Gulf of Mexico for drilling? Both parties support it.
Drilling along the Atlantic Coast? Both parties support it.
