[Libs-Or] ACTION: Cybersecurity bill votes start in three days – Keep the pressure on

[Diedre Conkling]

You may have already seen the piece in District Dispatch about CISPA but
have you seen this great piece in geekosystem.com:
http://www.geekosystem.com/american-library-association/.

------------------------

http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/04/cybersecurity-bill-votes-start-in-three-days-keep-the-pressure-on/

Cybersecurity bill votes start in three days - Keep the pressure on
Posted on April 20,
2012<http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/04/cybersecurity-bill-votes-start-in-three-days-keep-the-pressure-on/>
by Jacob Roberts <http://www.districtdispatch.org/author/jroberts/> |

*Library and privacy supporters: Keep pressuring House members to vote NO
on H.R. 3523 and other bills that will restructure our nation's privacy
policies and laws. *ALA remains staunchly opposed to this
bill<http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/04/ask-your-representative-to-vote-no-on-cispa/>.
Petition your elected representatives with the ALA Legislative Action
Center<http://capwiz.com/ala/callalert/index.tt?alertid=61217866&PROCESS=Call+Now>
.

The major problems remain:

   - CISPA would permit private "entities" (ISPS, utilities, etc.) to share
   huge amounts of information about our electronic communications with the
   government without a legal review or warrant;
   - CISPA permits these private providers to provide dumps of information
   without necessarily anonymizing or aggregating the information to protect
   personal privacy;
   - CISPA would authorize the National Security Agency (NSA) - an
   intelligence and military agency - to receive all of the Internet records
   to be used, not just for cybersecurity, but for other "lawful purposes" as
   well;
   - CISPA trumps all other privacy laws - state, local and national - if
   the sharing of the information is deemed "cybersecurity."

The House of Representatives is still scheduled to address a number of
troubling cyber bills during Cybersecurity Week, the week of April 23. One
of the most troubling bills remains H.R. 3523, *The Cyber Intelligence
Sharing and Protection Act of 2011,* CISPA<http://www.ala.org/advocacy/cispa>
.

At this writing, the text of CISPA is still in flux and behind-the-scene
discussions continue. Additional amendments must be filed next Tuesday,
April 24, 2012. While things are in great flux, it could be that H.R. 3523
will hit the House floor next Wednesday or Thursday, April 25-26, 2012.
This is the key time to keep your calls going into House
offices.<https://www.aclu.org/stop-cyber-spying>

Other privacy advocates such as the American Civil Liberties
Union<http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/proposed-amendments-cispa-dont-protect-privacy>,
the Center for Democracy and
Technology<https://www.cdt.org/blogs/greg-nojeim/1804concerns-mount-over-unresolved-privacy-issues-cispa>,
Free Press<http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/222109-overnight-tech-privacy-groups-unimpressed-with-cybersecurity-bill-changes>,
the Electronic Frontier
Foundation<http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-the-congress-pass-cispa/cispa-is-dangerously-vague>and
the
Constitution Project<http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-the-congress-pass-cispa/cispa-lacks-protections-for-individual-rights>also
remain in opposition to H.R. 3523. As the ACLU noted in their blog:
"The changes are so underwhelming that even the Obama Administration issued
a statement [April
18]<http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57415581-281/white-house-questions-cispa-cybersecurity-bill/>that
their privacy concerns persist."

The mix of bills in the House emphasizes sharing vast amounts of electronic
communications between private service providers (and other "utilities")
and the government. These bills would give immunity and permission to share
the traffic on their systems if the information is deemed for
"cybersecurity" purposes.

*Tell Congress: No Cyber Spying! No CISPA! *

   - Use the ALA's advocacy
site<http://capwiz.com/ala/callalert/index.tt?alertid=61217866>
   - Use ACLU's<https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4229&s_subsrc=120413_cybersecurity_ac>
   - Join the fight on twitter <http://cyberspying.eff.org/>

The one improvement we can report is that the specific term "intellectual
property" was removed, although there is still too much ambiguity elsewhere
in the bill to know for certain that copyright issues couldn't be swept in
with all of the other information sharing activities and purposes



http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/04/cybersecurity-bill-votes-start-in-three-days-keep-the-pressure-on/





-- 
*Diedre Conkling**
Lincoln County Library District
P.O. Box 2027
Newport, OR 97365
Phone & Fax: 541-265-3066
Work email**: **diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org*<diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org>
*
Home email: **diedre08 at gmail.com* <diedre08 at gmail.com>

 "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change
your attitude."--Maya Angelou
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