CISPA passes U.S. House: Death of the Fourth Amendment?

[Generic Other]

The controversial cybersecurity Bill has passed the U.S. House and is now on its way to the Senate chamber. Privacy groups believe this tramples on the Fourth Amendment.
Zack Whittaker

By Zack Whittaker for Zero Day | April 18, 2013 -- 18:53 GMT (11:53 PDT)

The controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) just passed the U.S. House, and will now head to the upper Senate chamber for further deliberation.

Rinse and repeat. This isn't the first time that this has happened, but it still poses a major threat to Fourth Amendment rights, according to civil liberties campaigners.

The Bill was passed 288-127 in favor of the Bill after two days of debate and discussion on the House floor. Only 18 members of the House abstained from the vote.

CISPA will allow private sector firms to search personal and sensitive user data of ordinary U.S. residents to identify "threat information," which can then be shared with other opt-in firms and the U.S. government — without the need for a court-ordered warrant. This means a company like Facebook, Twitter, Google, or any other technology or telecoms company, including your cell service provider, would be legally able to hand over vast amounts of data to the U.S. government and its law enforcement — for whatever purpose it deems necessary — and face no legal reprisals.

http://www.zdnet.com/cispa-passes-u-s-house-death-of-the-fourth-amendment-7000014205/

[sharp_stick]

1. The thing that really pisses me off with this

is the number of yes votes (288), that indicates a shit load of Dems going along with it and almost enough (2 shy of 290) to get over a promised Obama veto.

If this gets through the Senate, which I hope it doesn't, we're going to have to count on Nancy Pelosi and crew to deploy the whips pretty freely.

[Generic Other]

2. It is not an idea any American should defend

I agree. Democrats should not have voted for this one at all.

[Mutiny In Heaven]

3. Sadly, this is effectively law now

No way it fails after recent events & the information that has emerged.

[Generic Other]

5. True

So long privacy.

[G_j]

4. Obama has threatened a veto

http://m.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/cispa-critics-bolstered-by-veto-threat/2013/04/17/2c2f761e-a76b-11e2-8302-3c7e0ea97057_story.html

[Generic Other]

6. has he ever vetoed anything?

I don't know if he can be trusted on this issue. They all seem to back the power grabs.

[G_j]

7. not holding my breath

guess I'd be surprised if he actually did.

[forestpath]

8. My "Democratc" rep voted for it. I emailed him yesterday.

For all the good it'll do...and of course Obama will sign it if it gets to his desk which I'm sure it will. Obama gets a "twofer" - it's "bipartisan" plus it gives what are tantamount to government powers to private industry and Obama loves to inject private industry into government.

[Danascot]

9. Anonymous is trying to promote a shutdown on April 22

Has there been any serious talk of DU shutting down?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/anonymous-blackout-cispa_n_3116509.html

[Generic Other]

10. Well since Google, Facebook and others who collect info on us are planning to comply with the laws

Seems like a shutdown would have a limited effect. It is those corporations we need to convince to stop storing our info. For any reason.

If info must be gathered, the government needs to do their own freaking investigations. For one thing, why isn't email treated exactly as snail mail with legal protections against tampering in order to protect privacy? That seems so basic. The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution guards against unreasonable search and seizure, and requires a judge to issue a search warrant based on probable cause.

Our forefathers wrote this into the Bill of Rights because the British abused the colonists' rights "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures."

The Fourth Amendment applies to the states by way of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as well.

on edit: typos