3 ms·

Congress ending privacy with CISPA? Fight back with TMI

34 points by sethbannon 15y ago

tptacek 15y ago
What is CISPA? A cybersecurity bill that lets any company share your info with all of government, with no limits. In short, CISPA is the end of meaningful privacy for anyone with personal data on US-based services. No, it isn't. Your meaningful privacy was eliminated in 1986 with the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which specifically allows service providers of all sorts to collect and share sensitive information without limit and disclose that information to anyone else, so long as it's done incident to an attempt to maintain their service. The ECPA specifically carves out the power for service providers to share information without limit and without a warrant to anyone acting under color of law in a criminal investigation. CISPA is a crappy law, not least because it's pointless, but the amount of misinformation being spread about it dazzling. I recommend that you be especially suspicious of any organization trying to rile you up over this bill. They're just capitalizing on rageviews.
- HistoryInAction 15y ago
  Tom, are you yourself in MV? Hackers & Founders is putting together a town hall at CNET on Thursday, we need panelists with a security background to tell was WTF the implications of this bill are, what the status quo is. Declan McCullugh is moderating. Interested and able? My expertise is Startup Visa and founder immigration issues, I don't know jack about this stuff, so if I'm getting misinformation, I want to know it and replace it. Tell me more!
  - tptacek 15y ago
    I'd love to come, but I'm in Chicago at the moment.
  - joshAg 15y ago
    that sounds interesting. is the event open to the public?
    - HistoryInAction 15y ago
      Yep! http://www.hackersandfounders.com/events/60972502/?a=ea1_grp&eventId=60972502&action=detail http://www.hackersandfounders.com/events/60972502/?a=ea1_grp...
capnrefsmmat 15y ago
I wish people would stop legitimizing the idea that privacy is about hiding embarrassing things. Privacy is more important than the fear of your neighbors finding your copy of Maxim, but this strategy of sending Congress embarrassing details neglects that. It's vulnerable to the "but I have nothing to hide!" objection. To quote something I have written elsewhere on the Internet: Giving the government the power to read your email, tap your phone, and record your porn usage isn't bad simply because it's embarrassing. After all, the data will likely only be seen by a computer. But it gives the government enormous power to make decisions about you -- decisions about whether you may take a commercial airline flight, get a security clearance, or even get a job -- without your knowledge or consent, and without you knowing how they make the decisions. In short, a lack of privacy gives the government the power to be even less transparent in its decision-making, and gives it yet more power over its citizens. It's not a question of discovering your fetishes or being embarrassed, and we shouldn't respond to the "nothing to hide" argument as though their conception of privacy is right and having nothing to hide really is an excuse. There's a rather good paper I can recommend on the subject: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565

34 points by sethbannon 15y ago

What is CISPA? A cybersecurity bill that lets any company share your info with all of government, with no limits. In short, CISPA is the end of meaningful privacy for anyone with personal data on US-based services. No, it isn't. Your meaningful privacy was eliminated in 1986 with the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which specifically allows service providers of all sorts to collect and share sensitive information without limit and disclose that information to anyone else, so long as it's done incident to an attempt to maintain their service. The ECPA specifically carves out the power for service providers to share information without limit and without a warrant to anyone acting under color of law in a criminal investigation. CISPA is a crappy law, not least because it's pointless, but the amount of misinformation being spread about it dazzling. I recommend that you be especially suspicious of any organization trying to rile you up over this bill. They're just capitalizing on rageviews.

HistoryInAction 15y ago
Tom, are you yourself in MV? Hackers & Founders is putting together a town hall at CNET on Thursday, we need panelists with a security background to tell was WTF the implications of this bill are, what the status quo is. Declan McCullugh is moderating. Interested and able? My expertise is Startup Visa and founder immigration issues, I don't know jack about this stuff, so if I'm getting misinformation, I want to know it and replace it. Tell me more!
- tptacek 15y ago
  I'd love to come, but I'm in Chicago at the moment.
- joshAg 15y ago
  that sounds interesting. is the event open to the public?
  - HistoryInAction 15y ago
    Yep! http://www.hackersandfounders.com/events/60972502/?a=ea1_grp&eventId=60972502&action=detail http://www.hackersandfounders.com/events/60972502/?a=ea1_grp...

capnrefsmmat 15y ago

I wish people would stop legitimizing the idea that privacy is about hiding embarrassing things. Privacy is more important than the fear of your neighbors finding your copy of Maxim, but this strategy of sending Congress embarrassing details neglects that. It's vulnerable to the "but I have nothing to hide!" objection. To quote something I have written elsewhere on the Internet: Giving the government the power to read your email, tap your phone, and record your porn usage isn't bad simply because it's embarrassing. After all, the data will likely only be seen by a computer. But it gives the government enormous power to make decisions about you -- decisions about whether you may take a commercial airline flight, get a security clearance, or even get a job -- without your knowledge or consent, and without you knowing how they make the decisions. In short, a lack of privacy gives the government the power to be even less transparent in its decision-making, and gives it yet more power over its citizens. It's not a question of discovering your fetishes or being embarrassed, and we shouldn't respond to the "nothing to hide" argument as though their conception of privacy is right and having nothing to hide really is an excuse. There's a rather good paper I can recommend on the subject: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565