After the huge protests back in January of this year regarding the now shelved SOPA and PIPA bills, US lawmakers have already created another bill that is set to have some very disturbing ramifications for people’s basic rights for privacy. This comes at the same time the UK is proposing to pass a very similar piece of legislation (pretty much exactly the same in terms of what information it can gather) which I wrote about earlier today.
The new bill, H.R. 3523, comes as lawmakers in Washington are trying to find new ways to tackle cyber security issues relating to US interests, and as a result the Rogers-Ruppersberger Cyber Security Bill was created. However, as with SOPA/ PIPA the wording of the bill is very vague to say the least and is very open to abuse by federal entities.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, another online advocacy group, has also sharply condemned CISPA for what it means for the future of the Internet. “It effectively creates a ‘cybersecurity’’ exemption to all existing laws,” explains the EFF, who add in a statement of their own that “There are almost no restrictions on what can be collected and how it can be used, provided a company can claim it was motivated by ‘cybersecurity purposes.’”
The CDT have also expressed concern regarding the wording and implications for the legislation:
However, the bill goes much further, permitting ISPs to funnel private communications and related information back to the government without adequate privacy protections and controls. The bill does not specify which agencies ISPs could disclose customer data to, but the structure and incentives in the bill raise a very real possibility that the National Security Agency or the DOD’s Cybercommand would be the primary recipient.
The bill will come as great news to the NSA who have already built a massive complex in Bluffdale UT which was shrouded in secrecy for a long time. The heavily fortified $2 billion (£1.25 billion) centre should be operational in September 2013. Stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including private emails, mobile phone calls and Google searches, as well as personal data trails — travel itineraries, purchases and other digital “pocket litter”. It is the realisation of the “total information awareness” programme created by the Bush administration — which was killed by Congress in 2003 after an outcry over its potential for invading privacy.
The NSA will be one of the main federal entities that will be granted unfettered access to people’s newly tapped online information. Last month the NSA appeared in front of congress insisting that the NSA has neither the technical nor the legal capabilities to capture and sift through communications from Americans.
Well, that is now changed.
Here is what the Bill involves:
Here is RT America’s report on the bill:
Here is a list of some of the major corporations that have written letters in support for this new legislation. I have embedded Facebook’s letter below the list:
Letters in Support (Strange how most of these were against SOPA/ PIPA?)
Facebook’s letter of support:
Here is a list of the co-sponsors of the proposed bill:
Rep. Mark Amodei [R-NV2]
A New York Times article written on April 3rd by ex-Special Advisor to President George W. Bush on cybersecurity, Richard Clarke, said that he would like the DHS to inspect all net traffic that flows in and out of the US.
Sources: TechDirt, RT, Wired, ars technica
Mike Rogers e Dutch Ruppersberger hanno proposto al Congresso degli Stati Uniti un disegno di legge volto a prevenire gli attacchi informatici ai siti Internet e "ad altri scopi". Il ''Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act'' (CISPA) autorizzerà soggetti privati a monitorare il traffico Internet e le comunicazioni private dei cittadini americani, su richiesta del governo, aggirando le leggi che sono attualmente in vigore.

Kendall Burman, del ''Center for Democracy and Technology'', intervistata a Russia Today, afferma che «La sicurezza in Rete, quando fatta bene e in modo ristretto, può dare benefici a tutti; ma ciò essere fatto in modo incrementale ... e l'approccio oppressivo che stanno adottando con queste leggi ... dà luogo a problemi veri e seri».

Secondo la Electronic Frontier Foundation, «il linguaggio del CISPA è così generico che potrebbe essere interpretato in modo da consentire agli Internet Service Provider (ISP) e a società come Google e Facebook di intercettare i tuoi messaggi e trasmetterli al governo». Anche la protezione di «informazioni private o governative» e di «informazioni personalmente identificabili», secondo EFF, rischia di portare alla chiusura siti come WikiLeaks, i quali attualmente sono protetti dal Primo Emendamento, che garantisce libertà di parola. In aggiunta, rileva la EFF, tra gli obiettivi dichiarati del CISPA c'è anche la lotta all'appropriazione non autorizzata di materiale coperto da proprietà intellettuale, riproponendo con una veste diversa lo scopo dello Stop Online Piracy Act già ritirato al Congresso, e autorizzando anche in questo caso le pratiche come il blocco delle utenze private e l'oscuramento dei siti.

Tra le società che si sono dichiarate favorevoli all'approvazione del disegno di legge, spiccano Facebook, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Verizon.. La legge prevede l'immunità per le società che collaborano nel raccogliere e nel comunicare al governo americano le informazioni richieste.

Come riportato da Wired, la National Security Agency americana sta già costruendo un complesso da 2 miliardi di dollari, destinato alla raccolta delle informazioni, noto come ''Utah Data Center''. Si prevede che entrerà in funzione nel settembre 2013.

Desta stupore anche la tempistica: proprio in questo periodo, il governo britannico sta valutando una legge che, se approvata, autorizzerebbe il monitoraggio delle comunicazioni online dei privati cittadini, come le e-mail e le telefonate, con lo scopo dichiarato di aumentare le informazioni a disposizione contro la criminalità.