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Imagine if Facebook, Google and Twitter built a privacy-killing surveillance machine to help the federal government spy on us.
If Congress passes the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) this week (the same CISPA that withered in Congress last year), we’ll be one step closer to that nightmare.
We’ve got to convince Congress to vote “NO” on CISPA. Here’s how you can help:
- Pick up the phone.
- Call your representative.
- Urge a “NO” vote on CISPA.
Let’s get back to Facebook, Google and Twitter. Existing laws make it illegal for these and other online companies to share our personal information with the federal government without our consent or a search warrant.
But CISPA would obliterate our privacy laws. This means that Facebook could freely disclose your private messages, status updates, photos, searches, likes — even your location — to the National Security Agency or the Department of Homeland Security.
Google could send the government your email, your search history and more. If this bill passes, the federal government will have a surveillance system courtesy of the private companies that collect and hold our electronic information.
Right now we have the right to sue Facebook or Google for compromising our online privacy. CISPA would end all that — and we would no longer be able to do anything online without fear of being spied on.
CISPA is the worst bill facing the open Internet since SOPA — and it’s arguably even worse than that. So we must stand up for our online rights. We can’t simply hope that Congress does the right thing.
Take a moment right now to call your representative and urge a “NO” vote on CISPA.
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