SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Fight Against 'Big Brother' Heats Up as CISA Bill Advances in Senate
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is advancing in the Senate thanks to the aggressive push of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
Aug 04, 2015
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is pressing for the swift passage of a controversial pro-surveillance bill known as the the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), raising the ire of civil liberties campaigners who are vowing to escalate their efforts to defeat the measure.
Speaking from the Senate floor on Tuesday, McConnell declared: "With cooperation, we can pass the bipartisan bill this week." The statement came shortly after he filed cloture on the motion to advance CISA, which was previously stalled. McConnell's move means that a debate could come as early as Wednesday, and a vote as soon as Thursday.
Described in the Guardian as "the latest in a series of failed attempts to reform cybersecurity," CISA is framed by its backers as a tool to prevent cybersecurity crimes. But critics warn that the legislation, which has been called Patriot Act 2.0, would expand government and corporate cooperation on surveillance while dramatically diminishing online privacy. A long list of civil society organizations and scholars have expressed profound concerns about the legislation.
As ACLU legislative assistant Nathaniel Turner recently explained:
CISA's vague language and expansive definitions will give the government new ways to collect and use the personal information and communications of innocent Americans, all without a warrant or any review by an independent court or overseer. CISA would allow companies to share information with the government relating to a "cybersecurity threat," a term defined so broadly in the bill that it could include huge swaths of emails and text messages. The handover of user information under CISA would be permitted even if otherwise prohibited by existing data privacy laws, like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The law would also give companies broad legal protections even if they improperly share consumer data.
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the information shared by companies would automatically be forwarded to numerous intelligence, military, and law enforcement agencies, including the NSA and FBI.
A so-called manager's amendment, referring to a package of amendments agreed to by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, was released at the end of July but fails to address the biggest problems with the legislation, say critics.
"The manager's amendment proposed does nothing to address the fundamentally flawed logic behind CISA. It's clearly intended to appease privacy concerns with surface level changes while keeping keeping the most egregious parts of CISA intact," declared Evan Greer, Fight for the Future campaign director, on Tuesday.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has been a key voice opposing the measure, agreed. "The managers' amendment does not fix the provision of this bill that will allow private companies to hand large volumes of their customers' personal information over to the government with only a cursory review," he said on Monday.
The CISA push is being met with an escalating campaign led by a coalition of civil rights and liberties groups. Last week, a call for opponents of CISA to #FaxBigBrother--to illustrate that Congress is "stuck in [Orwell's] 1984"--generated over six million faxes to Senate offices.
"Congress may be stuck in 1984, but Internet users won't be fooled," said Greer. "Congress should expect the public outcry to grow ten fold if they if they move to a vote this week without proper debate and discussion about this extremely unpopular legislation."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is pressing for the swift passage of a controversial pro-surveillance bill known as the the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), raising the ire of civil liberties campaigners who are vowing to escalate their efforts to defeat the measure.
Speaking from the Senate floor on Tuesday, McConnell declared: "With cooperation, we can pass the bipartisan bill this week." The statement came shortly after he filed cloture on the motion to advance CISA, which was previously stalled. McConnell's move means that a debate could come as early as Wednesday, and a vote as soon as Thursday.
Described in the Guardian as "the latest in a series of failed attempts to reform cybersecurity," CISA is framed by its backers as a tool to prevent cybersecurity crimes. But critics warn that the legislation, which has been called Patriot Act 2.0, would expand government and corporate cooperation on surveillance while dramatically diminishing online privacy. A long list of civil society organizations and scholars have expressed profound concerns about the legislation.
As ACLU legislative assistant Nathaniel Turner recently explained:
CISA's vague language and expansive definitions will give the government new ways to collect and use the personal information and communications of innocent Americans, all without a warrant or any review by an independent court or overseer. CISA would allow companies to share information with the government relating to a "cybersecurity threat," a term defined so broadly in the bill that it could include huge swaths of emails and text messages. The handover of user information under CISA would be permitted even if otherwise prohibited by existing data privacy laws, like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The law would also give companies broad legal protections even if they improperly share consumer data.
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the information shared by companies would automatically be forwarded to numerous intelligence, military, and law enforcement agencies, including the NSA and FBI.
A so-called manager's amendment, referring to a package of amendments agreed to by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, was released at the end of July but fails to address the biggest problems with the legislation, say critics.
"The manager's amendment proposed does nothing to address the fundamentally flawed logic behind CISA. It's clearly intended to appease privacy concerns with surface level changes while keeping keeping the most egregious parts of CISA intact," declared Evan Greer, Fight for the Future campaign director, on Tuesday.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has been a key voice opposing the measure, agreed. "The managers' amendment does not fix the provision of this bill that will allow private companies to hand large volumes of their customers' personal information over to the government with only a cursory review," he said on Monday.
The CISA push is being met with an escalating campaign led by a coalition of civil rights and liberties groups. Last week, a call for opponents of CISA to #FaxBigBrother--to illustrate that Congress is "stuck in [Orwell's] 1984"--generated over six million faxes to Senate offices.
"Congress may be stuck in 1984, but Internet users won't be fooled," said Greer. "Congress should expect the public outcry to grow ten fold if they if they move to a vote this week without proper debate and discussion about this extremely unpopular legislation."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is pressing for the swift passage of a controversial pro-surveillance bill known as the the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), raising the ire of civil liberties campaigners who are vowing to escalate their efforts to defeat the measure.
Speaking from the Senate floor on Tuesday, McConnell declared: "With cooperation, we can pass the bipartisan bill this week." The statement came shortly after he filed cloture on the motion to advance CISA, which was previously stalled. McConnell's move means that a debate could come as early as Wednesday, and a vote as soon as Thursday.
Described in the Guardian as "the latest in a series of failed attempts to reform cybersecurity," CISA is framed by its backers as a tool to prevent cybersecurity crimes. But critics warn that the legislation, which has been called Patriot Act 2.0, would expand government and corporate cooperation on surveillance while dramatically diminishing online privacy. A long list of civil society organizations and scholars have expressed profound concerns about the legislation.
As ACLU legislative assistant Nathaniel Turner recently explained:
CISA's vague language and expansive definitions will give the government new ways to collect and use the personal information and communications of innocent Americans, all without a warrant or any review by an independent court or overseer. CISA would allow companies to share information with the government relating to a "cybersecurity threat," a term defined so broadly in the bill that it could include huge swaths of emails and text messages. The handover of user information under CISA would be permitted even if otherwise prohibited by existing data privacy laws, like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The law would also give companies broad legal protections even if they improperly share consumer data.
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the information shared by companies would automatically be forwarded to numerous intelligence, military, and law enforcement agencies, including the NSA and FBI.
A so-called manager's amendment, referring to a package of amendments agreed to by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, was released at the end of July but fails to address the biggest problems with the legislation, say critics.
"The manager's amendment proposed does nothing to address the fundamentally flawed logic behind CISA. It's clearly intended to appease privacy concerns with surface level changes while keeping keeping the most egregious parts of CISA intact," declared Evan Greer, Fight for the Future campaign director, on Tuesday.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has been a key voice opposing the measure, agreed. "The managers' amendment does not fix the provision of this bill that will allow private companies to hand large volumes of their customers' personal information over to the government with only a cursory review," he said on Monday.
The CISA push is being met with an escalating campaign led by a coalition of civil rights and liberties groups. Last week, a call for opponents of CISA to #FaxBigBrother--to illustrate that Congress is "stuck in [Orwell's] 1984"--generated over six million faxes to Senate offices.
"Congress may be stuck in 1984, but Internet users won't be fooled," said Greer. "Congress should expect the public outcry to grow ten fold if they if they move to a vote this week without proper debate and discussion about this extremely unpopular legislation."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy