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Goodbye Freedom

Goodbye Freedom

Author: Damian Yoko
Date: 2013-04-26
Is CISPA, another attempt to secretly get rid of our Internet freedoms Or is it a way for the U.S. government to keep the world safe

If you're like me, you may have not been keeping up with U.S. political news as much as the average American. However, last week the U.S. House Of Representatives passed a bill called the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) by a 288-127 vote.

This act aims to give extra-judicial power to the United States government, whereby, in the event of a cyber attack, the CISPA empowers private companies with a broad blanket of legal immunity when voluntarily sharing information with other companies, and with the federal government. They can legally access private data online without violating existing privacy laws.

The stated aim of this and previous acts similar to this have been to primarily control Internet piracy. However there is a risk when giving the power to companies and the US government legal access to private online information.

As the act does not specify exactly what type and class of data pertains to cyberintelligence, it could give law enforcement agencies the power to access or change any data on popular public and private sharing websites. Basically giving the US government the ability to censor the Internet.

The bill still needs to pass through the Senate, where many believe that just like similar previous bills, it won't make it through. While president Barack Obama promised last week that the CISPA bill might still get a veto, even with the several adopted amendments, this may just be American politics, however this bill affects all Internet users. If you have any feelings on this, make sure you voice them on your social network using the hash tag #StopCISPA.