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"CISPA is accurately described as a setup to wipe out decades of consumer privacy protections, giving the U.S. government unprecedented access to individuals' o

"CISPA is accurately described as a setup to wipe out decades of consumer privacy protections, giving the U.S. government unprecedented access to individuals' online data and communications."

tptacek 14y ago
Where by "accurate" we mean "conformant with Violet Blue's understanding of the bill", or, in layman's terms, "not at all accurate". In particular, CISPA contains no provisions that would enable the US Government to request private information from private companies. The information that CISPA allows private companies to share is limited to network attack data.
chc 14y ago
Can anybody point out which privacy laws are supposedly being wiped out and which portions of CISPA supposedly do this? Because I have never seen these concerns expressed in concrete terms.
- tptacek 14y ago
  Informed people who believe that CISPA is a privacy threat are typically taking a narrow reading of the ECPA's information sharing provision (for instance, reading into it the idea that "information required to maintain one's network" would not include "detailed information about ongoing network attacks"). If you believe that ECPA prevents Facebook or AT&T from sharing information about attacks --- something backbone providers already do --- then CISPA creates a new authorization to share that information. The idea that CISPA would be a vector for DHS and DOJ to get warrantless access to email and Facebook messages, though, is hyperbolic and more than a little silly, because DHS and DOJ already have a warrantless way to get most of that information --- court orders. It's ˙totally˙ reasonable to be concerned about the ease with which the government can get access to information via court orders. But that's a concern that's orthogonal to CISPA; if anyone meant CISPA as an an additive to the mechanisms the government already uses to get email, the bill would be written differently. It is as always worth mentioning that CISPA is an opt-in measure.

"CISPA is accurately described as a setup to wipe out decades of consumer privacy protections, giving the U.S. government unprecedented access to individuals' online data and communications."

tptacek 14y ago

Where by "accurate" we mean "conformant with Violet Blue's understanding of the bill", or, in layman's terms, "not at all accurate". In particular, CISPA contains no provisions that would enable the US Government to request private information from private companies. The information that CISPA allows private companies to share is limited to network attack data.

chc 14y ago

Can anybody point out which privacy laws are supposedly being wiped out and which portions of CISPA supposedly do this? Because I have never seen these concerns expressed in concrete terms.

tptacek 14y ago
Informed people who believe that CISPA is a privacy threat are typically taking a narrow reading of the ECPA's information sharing provision (for instance, reading into it the idea that "information required to maintain one's network" would not include "detailed information about ongoing network attacks"). If you believe that ECPA prevents Facebook or AT&T from sharing information about attacks --- something backbone providers already do --- then CISPA creates a new authorization to share that information. The idea that CISPA would be a vector for DHS and DOJ to get warrantless access to email and Facebook messages, though, is hyperbolic and more than a little silly, because DHS and DOJ already have a warrantless way to get most of that information --- court orders. It's ˙totally˙ reasonable to be concerned about the ease with which the government can get access to information via court orders. But that's a concern that's orthogonal to CISPA; if anyone meant CISPA as an an additive to the mechanisms the government already uses to get email, the bill would be written differently. It is as always worth mentioning that CISPA is an opt-in measure.