CISPA is a threat to privacy

By Sara Nydam |Staff Writer|

There is a new bill being considered by Congress that if passed, will eat away at your privacy.

Any information shared by the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act “could theoretically end up in The Department of Defense or in the hands of the National Security Agency,” according to the LA Times.

If CISPA is passed you should be worried about your privacy every time you access the Internet. “The government would be allowed to share ‘cyber threat intelligence’ with private companies and they in turn share ‘cyber threat information’ with the government to increase cyber security,” according to techdirt.com.

CISPA is innocently presented as information sharing, but in my opinon is actually a threat to your privacy. “The language of the data is so vague that there’s a huge level of interpretation of data that could be shared,” the LA Times stated.

When the backers amended CISPA they said the government may use the information for the protection of national security. But really, this may lead to a free-for-all interpretation by the government for the purpose of national security.

Facebook, Verizon and AT&T along with 800 other companies have come out in support of this bill. However what these companies are not telling you is that this will get them off the hook for government intervention.

A post on a friend’s Facebook wall or an e-mail to a relative could make your personal information available to the government. These companies claim that they will have no obligation to share data with the government and they will continue to protect private information, but I call their bluff.

When it comes down to it, I do not think that they will go out of their way to protect our private information. The vague language of the bill as well as lack of any real restrictions make for questionable “promises” from supporting companies.

Companies should have the ability to give information about a specific cyber threat without sharing a person’s private information. The bill seems to be sacrificing the protection of privacy and freedom of expression in the name of  “national security.”

“I think the government thinks they have more control than they really do and they shouldn’t have,” said student Brittney Carollo.

The government is supposed to serve and protect its citizens, after all it is what they are paid to do. Unfortunately if CISPA is passed the government will have easier access to your  private information.

Trusting in the government will be hard for myself and many other Internet users if the government is able to watch our every move through CISPA.

“I wouldn’t be able to post my opinion. I feel like my rights would be taken away,” said Carollo.

There is no need for another law protecting privacy of information or to give the government more unwarranted power because they should not be coming after those of us who are innocent.

There is no need for companies to share our private information in the interest of national security or to protect their networks.