First DO NOT POST LINKS IN THIS THREAD OR IT WILL GET CLOSED.

A mod (not naming names) is allowing me to post this, since nobody really likes these bills, with the restrictions of no links. Also, please do not get this thread messy with political views. I would actually rather you just posted something short and sweet and tell your friends.

Onward: from the Off-Topic Steam foums

"CISPA(Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) is up for a vote this week. It would obliterate any semblance of online privacy in the United States, giving the government -- including the military -- broad new powers to spy on Internet use.

Companies that we trust with our personal information, like Microsoft and Facebook, are key supporters of this bill that lets corporations share all user activity and content with US government agents without needing a warrant in the name of cyber-security -- nullifying privacy guarantees for almost everyone around the world, no matter where we live and surf online."

I don't know much about this bill. There is a petition with over 600K sigs already and a site where you can constact your congressman, but I can't link it.

I watched the "recent sigs" updating on the petition site and out of about 25 there was only 1 American. A few other countries had 4 or 5 during that time. Lets not have other countries do our job for us.

The first I heard about this was on the Off Topic Steam forums (which is like this one of course) today.

What's next....CRISPS?

Regulators failing to understand the subject they regulate.

Shocker.

I'm assuming these damn bills won't go away until one is passed.

This is what has me worried.

At least SOPA had a catchy acronym. This one is a serious step back on that front, and will not get my vote. I think we can do better!

Its bound to happen.... sharing of info btwn corporation and gov

Freaking acronyms again.

Uncle Sam loves its acronyms.

Americans are scary.

This stuff continually resurfacing just highlights that self protection will eventually fall back on the individual, and it opens a market for products targeted to individuals to safeguard their own privacy.
The internet only has information that we put out there ourselves, and maybe we should start caring about our own privacy, like people did 50 or a 100 years ago, when respecting privacy was a sign of a civilized society, not something to be suspicious about. If the information out there wasn't valuable, nobody would want it, so perhaps we should also stop giving away valuable stuff for free?

You haven't seen scary yet. *Rips open streaker trenchcoat*

The problem is that the major corporations and political powers here hold more influence than the plebeian average joe. To make it worse, these bills are passed in two ways, either A. As discreetly as possible, or B. Using propaganda that scares the uninformed internet user or those who just don't use computers. Like one user said, these bills are just going to keep surfacing until one of them passes, then when one passes, another will, then another, until even some user in.....Finland, England, wherever, is unable to post a certian content because it's on an American site. I'm not tossing around wild speculations, but these bills are trying to 'politically correct' and control a myriad of aspects of internet use.

In some respects, I kind of wish the internet would vanish.

Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the internet though? I mean, if I want to buy something from a company online that I can't find locally, I have no choice but to give them my personal info. If I can't keep in contact with my family and friends via email and/or social networking sites, then my only alternative is to go back to writing letters via snail mail and calling on the telephone. So what good is the internet for?

Informed choices work for me. I realize most people won't want to give up internet shopping and social interaction. Large corporations, pedophiles, governments and cyber criminals also know most people will not care about their privacy until loss of privacy has a personal negative impact on them.

In reality, most people have already had their personal information violated (maybe too strong a word, because most people don't care?). Many people have had their credit card numbers auctioned off in bulk lots in anonymous chat rooms and remained oblivious of it because there are more credit card numbers available than there are criminals to exploit them. The question is do most people care? And should they care or not?

Everybody with a bank account pays for all the lost money that is often not even thoroughly investigated, let alone recovered. Banks know they cannot prevent loss, but make a larger profit from encouraging online banking and having less staff, so they take out insurance and pass the cost on to their consumers. It's probably companies like the insurers who are lobbying the hardest for bills like this, although even they make money, because they can charge high premiums to the banks - it's the consumers after all who pay for it, nobody else.

If more people realized how valuable information really is, maybe they wouldn't just leave it lying all over the internet. Those photos of your kids combined with info on where they go to school that pedophiles trade; your paypal password that's the name of your dog; your credit card number that you e-mailed without encryption - these are used by criminals, and then governments, corporations and anyone else that has a vested interest because they can make money, or turn it to their advantage in some way, will use the threat of crime as an excuse to take control of what should be public resources.

I foresee a future where there will be more products available to consumers which protect privacy and identity. And some of that protection will be targeted at the 'protectors' like governments - especially those that privatize and outsource to corporations.

Every time I read about this I think it's about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CISSP and think "Oh, so the US government is mandating that certificate now for some position? That's going to make it hard to fill..." Only to realize it's not at all as soon as I click the article.


This has happened to me like 12 different times over the past couple of months.

This bill isn't really equivocal to SOPA, though. This bill is about Internet taps and information collection, not about Internet filtering. Not that it's any better, but the two bills aren't alike. OPEN is the current SOPA equivalent.

Construction of PapaNet has begun again, join now for customized domain names

Sopa > Cispa > DIGAC?

I foresee stuff like Freenet taking off wildly once something like CISPA passes.

Bit of a broad generalization you're making there. Clearly any bill currently being considered in Congress can be considered a representation of the people of the entire nation.

The UK has a similar surveillance bill being discussed and Sweden already passed theirs. I'm certain there are ones in other countries, though I've not heard of them.

If the government wants to do something it will keep pushing and repackaging it until it is done.

This isn't an American thing either. Just look what happened when Ireland voted against the Lisbon Treaty i.e. "VOTE AGAIN!"

In a more perfect (to me) system of government, I would support such laws and legislation.

This makes me think.....

Anyone else think you shouldn't be able to try and pass the same bill or law or whatever over and over.

I know there are other circumstances, but say: You can't try and pass a bill for the same general purpose within the same 2 years or something.

I don't know to much about government, but I would think it's pretty obvious that this is a "if at first you don't succeed, try - try again."

Silly American government trying to take over the internet again. They still don't know we at the Internetland don't like people trying to rule this place.

They already do that so what's the point of the bill then?

Next act coming up calld the "CRAP"-act.

Civilian Rights Anti-Preservation Act

Doesn't really bother me...