Editorial

Protecting the United States of America and every

American citizen at all costs is the most important

thing that the government can do. No one wants another

attack, like 9/11 or the first World Trade Center

attack in 1993, on U.S. soil ever again.

In fact, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, many citizens

agreed that they could give up a little bit of

their freedom in order to protect the U.S. from getting

attacked again.

The government did protect itself, except they

took a lot more than a “little bit” of freedom away

from citizens. Just weeks after the attacks, President

George W. Bush signed a bill known as the Patriot

Act into law with near-unanimous support by both

Democrats and Republicans.

The issue with the Patriot Act is when it came to

dealing the government’s power, an article on lifescript.

com highlighted that “it provides sweeping

power to government agencies to monitor the personal

habits of not only those who have been identified

as suspected terrorists, but anyone residing in

the United States as well as United States citizens

residing abroad.”

In other words, the government can key in on regular

citizens for investigation as it gives officials

leeway to do what they want -- even if they haven’t

been associated with terrorism!

Fast forward to 2012, and the government plans

to instill more restrictions on civil liberties where

Americans will have their “cyberlife” monitored.

The proposed bill is called the Cyber Intelligence

Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), and it’s currently

scheduled for a House of Representative floor

vote in the next week or so.

What this bill would do is give private companies

new ways to share information about cyber threats

with the government.

PCWorld.com laid out a fact sheet on what this bill

will do to cyber freedom called “CISPA Monitoring

Bill: Just the Facts.” The fact sheet mentioned that

companies would be encouraged to share their own

knowledge, though it wouldn’t be mandatory.

It also highlighted that “private companies would

only be allowed to use information to protect themselves

and their customers--not to gain a competitive

advantage--and, in doing so, would be protected

from lawsuits. The information shared would be exempted

from public disclosure.”

In other words, many companies such as Facebook,

Microsoft and Verizon -- all of whom support

this measure -- could fork over personal information

if it seemed like a threat to them and the government

without letting that individual know that they did.

Just imagine having your Facebook posts and your

photos sent to the government because Facebook is

checking to make sure their network is attack-free or

terrorist free without prior consent.

Facebook denies that they would send people’s

personal information to the government and that this

bill just protects the company is complete nonsense.

Of course, Facebook will say that. They aren’t

going to say that they’ll fork over personal information.

There’s just too much vague wording in this bill

and it allows law enforcement and government officials

to interpret it the way they want. Not to mention

that the bill violates the 1st Amendment, which

entitles citizens to freedom of speech and expression,

and it’ll most definitely violate the 4th Amendment,

which guards against unreasonable search and

seizures.

Everyone wants terrorism to go away, and some

people are willing to bend the rules to catch terrorists.

But how much do American citizens have to

suffer and deal with when it comes to their freedom?

Not everyone is a terrorist or a threat to national

security.

The White House seems to have concerns about

the bill, too, and many citizens and advocacy groups

also oppose this measure, such as the Electronic

Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil

Liberties Union (ACLU). The PCWorld fact sheet

also mentioned “by using vague language, the EFF

argues that companies could use the bill to filter

content, monitor e-mails, and block access to websites.”

“We just want people to know that Congress is on

the verge of giving the government incredible new

authorities to collect sensitive and personal Internet

information and emails,” said Michelle Richardson,

a legislative counsel for the ACLU, in a quote to

Politico.com.

So what can be done to stop this bill from becoming

a reality?

Citizens need to educate their local Congressman

about CISPA and what can happen if it becomes a

reality. To do that, he or she needs to be emailed and

called.

Another way to stop this bill is to have people

sign a petition and spread awareness. In other words,

make a Facebook page or a blog about the pitfalls of