The following companies just betrayed billions of people.
Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec, and a handful of other tech companies just began publicly lobbying Congress to pass the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), a bill that would give corporations total legal immunity when they share private user data with the government and with each other. Many of these companies have previously claimed to fight for their users’ privacy rights, but by supporting this bill they’ve made it clear that they’ve abandoned that position, and are willing to endanger their users’ security and civil rights in exchange for government handouts and protection.
Wait, you mean to tell me all that talk about caring about users’ privacy was just shallow PR speak gullible people fell for?
I’m so surprised.
But don’t we all have the inalienable right to be advertised to and monitored 24×7?
EDIT: Should I assume that Google and Facebook and Twitter, etc, aren’t part of this because they are already native NSA / CIA ops?
Edited 2015-09-23 18:14 UTC
No, everyone is on the bandwagon …
Google has not taken a public position on the bill[32] but has shown previous support for it, and now says they support the idea but believe the bill needs some work.[33] Leading Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft executives are also on the executive council of TechNet, a tech trade group which sent a letter supporting CISPA in April 2013.
We only need to look to history to see how this is going to end. There’s something about being oppressed that doesn’t sit well with people.
Oppression is only a problem when people notice, and it’s unpleasant enough.
And if the government is doing what they say they’re doing, nobody is going to notice. But if it turns out that people start getting arrested for a private message they sent on Facebook (or whatever), shit is going to hit the fan. So I suspect a lot of this stuff will stay under the table.
Yeah, this isn’t oppression, except if you’re 14 years old.
Even if it were, look at the countless examples of how long real oppression lasts before there is any uprising by the people.
Perhaps you should revisit the definition of oppression. And it affects everyone, not just teenagers. Nice try though..
Did you even read what this bill is about before posting a link to some conspiracy theorist page? Maybe my english isn’t perfect, though it is my native language and I have lived my entire life in the USA, but I see nothing in this bill about gathering individuals private data.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/754
Yes it does. Maybe you missed Sec. 4. and the rest.
From the bill:
So yeah, basically anything.
Edited 2015-09-23 21:09 UTC
Hmm, so what if you work for a security company, and/or you look at CVEs all the time? That would be ‘looking up vulnerabilities’.
One more bullshit policy that makes me want to move out into the woods and be some weird Fringe person.
“Oh noes, these companies are scum and want to share your info! Here, give us your name, email address and zip code.” What?
I’m all for privacy, I’ve attempted to block Windows 10’s intrusiveness as much as possible (granted I only play games in it) and use Linux as much as possible.
But come on, putting my email address, name and zip code into a site that any random person could set up seems like a bad idea.
Do people remember when everyone who was on any sort of networked computer would use aliases? Why people stopped doing that, I’ll never know…
But don’t grab your pitchforks because of an over-the-top biased summary – read the bill:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/754
That said…
Why does this bill exist?
The government realizes that companies don’t actually have any moral qualms or any stake at all in protecting their user’s privacy – the only reason they bother doing so is:
1. To be in adherence with existing laws so as not to be fined or prosecuted – which affects their bottom line.
2. Because when news of a company sharing such information with anyone (including the government) gets out, it pisses off their customers and affects their bottom line.
3. Ranting and raving about how much they protect privacy (whether in real or imaginary ways) nets new customers, which affects their bottom line.
I.e., all companies care about is their bottom line.
This bill will give companies a way to share information with each other and the government (at least for the purposes outlined in the bill), that guarantees 1 and 2 never happen, and lets them continue ranting about 3.
Of course they are going to support it…
What the bill actually says (in my own words):
Government to companies: We want you guys to help us catch cyber criminals and terrorists. We want you to monitor the internet and each other and report any indicators of criminal activity to DHS in realtime so we can catch these bastards. We will even offer you immunity from antitrust and liability laws (with some restrictions) if you do so. Its voluntary, you don’t have to do it, but if you do we promise no one else (especially the public) will ever know about it. We will publicly disclose what type of information we collect, and we will disclose how the information is shared internally, but we will never disclose the information itself.
Government to the public: Look out! Terrorists!!!
Edited 2015-09-23 21:12 UTC
Isn’t Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act better for those companies ?
Companies do what’s best for them.
Yes they said they cared about privacy, but saying that is better for them then not saying it, so they said it.
They’re going to keep doing what they’ve already been doing and pretended not to do all along. Ask me if I’m surprised.
The difference with this is making it law that they get immunity from their actions. Being willing to break the law or act against public (and moral) interest is one thing. Doing that without the threat of being held responsible and without any repercussions of any kind is a whole other ballgame.
At least they’re showing their true colors. Neither company was ever pro consumer privacy. They’re pro whatever makes them the most money.
Now, if only MS would explain, in plain English, why they need so much information from Windows 10 users. Until they clarify this, speculation will prevail and use of tinfoil hats will keep going up.
Apple and MS were never friends of privacy.
Apple and Microsoft are probably among the largest company take shot at Google when it comes to user privacy .
So yes unfortunately a lot of people are naive enough to believe that Microsoft and at least Apple cared for their privacy.
On one hand people are complaining that companies are not doing enough to prevent devastating cyberattacks that target users’ personally identifiable information (PII), and on the other they are complaining about overreach of governments in trying to gather that same PII. The CISA, while far from perfect, is a compromise between the two.
The draft states companies should remove PII from information shared with the US Government and other companies that participate if it does not identify the bad actor(s). PII that is shared must be protected.
If you do not like the draft text of CISA please contact your Representative and Senators to explain your concerns. If you are not a US National you can always write a letter to your Ambassador to the US about your concerns, or to the US Ambassador to your country. You stand a fair chance of actually influencing legislation this way.
Please don’t try to complain to your Ambassador… We have a Republican controlled House right now. If they get wind that Europeans think this bill is bad they will use it as an argument to pass it!
Yeah, well, that’s nice in theory but no. We live in a country where everything is for sale. This country isn’t about its people, it’s about greed, profit, and what the highest bidder wants. If you think writing somebody a letter and giving them a stern talking to is going to get you anywhere, you don’t know your own country.
Edited 2015-09-24 04:08 UTC
Bye bye Windows
“began publicly lobbying Congress to pass the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA)”
The USA is run by “corporate america”, is no democracy anymore for many years now. So who wonders.
And that’s if Apple and Microsoft in particular in this case – change the terms of their EULAs and give the user a new choice, clear as day:
“In agreeing to use our free/non-free hosted email services, you acknowledge this email is not PRIVATE, not in the way you expected a printed letter to be private. We anonymize and pass a subset of information to government anti-terror and cyber-security agencies for the benefit of our safe-ish society ; Of course if we suspect (or they suspect) aberrant behaviour patterns then full non-anonymised data will be shared. If you hereby choose our services by clicking next we thank you both for your cooperation in keeping us all a little safer and for choosing the most easy-to-use, hassle-free and always accessible email service”
I think if they throw in a little knowing irony or implicit mocking in the statement if will make it all very much easier to swallow yes