[gtCD] Zombie Bill

A major threat to our online privacy has come back from the dead. 

Last year, thanks to a public outcry, the effort to pass overreaching cybersecurity legislation stalled in the Senate. Now supporters have reintroduced the House version of that legislation — the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).

It's the zombie bill that refuses to die. The "new" CISPA is identical to the original CISPA that passed in the House last year — and poses the same threat to our digital civil liberties and our freedom to connect online. Take action now to kill the new CISPA.

Just like the old CISPA, the new CISPA would offer companies like Facebook and Microsoft protection from legal liability when they hand over your sensitive online data to the federal government, without any regard for your privacy. 

And it would permit the government — including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security — to use that information for matters that have nothing to do with cybersecurity.¹ 

The whole process would, of course, take place behind closed doors, with no accountability to the public.

Tell Congress: Vote "No" on ANY cybersecurity bill that threatens our online privacy and freedom to connect.

Last year, President Obama vowed to veto any destructive CISPA-like bill that reached his desk.

This time around it's unclear if the president would once again commit to vetoing CISPA. So if the new "zombie" CISPA goes farther than it did last time around, we simply don't know what will happen.²

If CISPA becomes law, it will be a major blow to our online privacy. But more than that, it would have a chilling effect on our freedom to connect online. We won't feel as free to state unpopular opinions, or to speak truth to power, if we know that Big Brother could get a feed of everything we say and do.

This is not what the free and open Internet is about. Take action now to bury CISPA for good.

Thanks,

Josh, Kate, Jennifer and the rest of the Free Press Action Fund team

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P.P.S. Wanna connect with people working to protect the open Internet? Come to the National Conference for Media Reform in Denver on April 5–7.

1. "Online Spying, Brought to You by Facebook," Huffington Post, April 4, 2012: http://act.freepress.net/go/9704?t=8&akid=4094.9723095.Wg_E5w

2. "Cybersecurity Bill Supporters Regroup as Executive Order Looms," Think Progress, Feb. 6, 2013: http://act.freepress.net/go/13748?t=10&akid=4094.9723095.Wg_E5w