CISPA, also known as the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act first came into play in 2011 as an attempt to control the evils of the cyberverse. The main evil that CISPA is meant to fight is the CTI or Cyber Threat Intelligence which is just another fancy word for damaging information about government or private networks that could be used to harm them. CISPA then puts forward an infrastructure of surveillance that attempts to identify and root out CTI’s by prosecuting them. In actuality, CISPA is not just another strange dream of a mad scientist but is actually meant to solve real life problems that firms and agencies face online, that of security. The White House has already repeatedly claimed that it will only pass the legislation if it meets certain privacy criteria- -now this is where the problems actually come in. The criterion is flaky at best and CISPA is a pretty terrible bill entailing computer monitoring of all users- -quite literally.
CISPA has created much controversy and most of the attacks against it have stemmed from the EFF and ACLU claiming that the bill has no real structure or objective when it comes to ‘probably cause’ for investigating and hence pulling user information simply in the name of CTI. Perhaps the most damning charge against the bill is that it allows for private security companies to access personal information about internet users from social media websites such as Facebook and giants like Gmail. Potentially this means that without providing any concrete evidence of a threat, government as well as private companies can legally access your private user information no questions asked. Now to anyone with even the slightest sense of privacy rights, this will spell out clear cut violation.
Of course, on the cover of it the bill does vaguely talk about making sure privacy remains intact and that medical, library, sales, educational and tax records will not be accessed. However, if all personal correspondence done over the internet is available is there really a need for any government or agency to pull out dusty records? Civil liberty then seems to take a heavy beating and all information then comes from the direct source. It’s hard to argue that accessing email and social media accounts is not a rash step- -especially when both play such vital roles in today’s functioning of society.
At the current moment the bill does not seem to be making any real headway but alarming rumors seem to keep coming up. The last talked of realistic and positive passing of the bill regarding CISPA was news that President Obama was willing to give to the bill a go ahead. Thankfully the Senate is in no mood to have the bill land on the President’s desk but the alarm bells should be ringing in just about everyone’s head every time the mention of the bill comes up if it isn’t already. The bill may seem like an awful dream but the truth is the legislation is being pushed by senators. Rather than real IT experts combating an online problem, the domain has shifted into a federal security one- -making it all the more worrisome.
Further, it just doesn’t seem to shy away from some media attention or the other. CISPA may be on its way to being trashed but many companies and research experts continuously emphasize the need for it and think that it would be a good preventive measure for damage that is otherwise irreparable. Just recently an independent and bipartisan commission ended up recommending the act in its report released just Wednesday. As can be expected they defended corporations and spelled out how important it was for them to have two way communications and hence the passing of CISPA was ‘more necessary than ever before’. This Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property may actually have some impact however on the way things go with those who are in power. Of course, this commission isn’t the first to argue that the CISPA act would actually be a statutory effort to address problems but the other side is a price many Americans are finding too heavy to pay.
The idea that ‘corporations are people too’ seems to have worked its way into the folds here, with all those who approve of CISPA acting as though corporations, or pseudo individuals have rights that surpass those of the lone individual- -simply because they are a majority in power dynamics. But despite playing this card, the commission was unable to deny the fact that IP theft is not simply a result of digital domain trespassing but instead says that it is furthered by ‘cyber capabilities’. For most privacy advocates, this fails to impress and keeps CISPA an option that is to remain off the table nonetheless. Let’s see what happens from here onwards, till then appreciate your privacy while you still have it.
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