Stupid Politics As Usual To Drive The CISPA Narrative

from the unfortunate dept

Well, this is not too surprising, but it is unfortunate. As the Obama administration has said it would veto CISPA, the House has now turned this into a partisan fight. As with IP issues, I tend to think it’s dangerous and stupid when privacy fights become partisan. Once the debate is partisan, it seems to lose all sense of reason and perspective and just degrades into name calling. And there’s a chance exactly that is happening with CISPA and other cybersecurity bills, as the Republicans are “daring” the Democrats to support these bills, with the political calculus being that if they don’t support these bills and something terrible happens (planes falling from the sky, etc.) that they can then blame the Democrats for being soft on cybercrime. That narrative, of course, ignores the very real privacy concerns that are being raised by a variety of parties. It effectively shifts the entire debate away from finding a real solution, and into a situation where some are pressured to accept a bad solution for the sake of political optics.

Filed Under: , , , , ,

Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Stupid Politics As Usual To Drive The CISPA Narrative”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
40 Comments
ThumbsUpThumbsDown (profile) says:

Are the pecuniary interests of current Copyright Holders immediate National Security Interests?

Let’s grant for a second that there are honerable, intelligent and well intentioned people whose calling is to be responsiblle each day and each second for the actual physical security of the the commonwealth.

So, why would such people, with full access to their best faculties, propose a Bill like CISPA, stuffed as is now widely known with the most adverse implications imaginable for the Constitutional Rights of every American?

If one is to take CISPA in isolation, one might say, “OOOOps! Must have been an oversight or some unintended consequences! Perhaps, an afterthought; or two.”

But isn’t this the same Political Establishment that produced PIPA, SOPA, and ACTA? And didn’t those laws suffer from the same articulated abreviations of Constitutional Rights as CISPA? Isn’t that EXACTLY why enraged Americans rejected those laws?

Is it impossible to believe that American National Security Proffessionals could not draft a narrowly taylord protocol granting the reasonable rights needed to address cybersecuriy risks of essential National Security assets?

Our problem is not CISPA or PIPA or SOPA or ACTA; but rather, our problem is with what lies behind the recurring totality of these laws: An American political class that tells Americans more clearly each day with each new legislative proposal, that they must accept some nullification of their Constitutional Rights in the interest of protecting existing pecuniary previledges of Intellectual Property distributors under current Copyright Law.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

It’s probably not possible to implement an absolutely secure system that communicates with *anything* outside the system. When you’re talking about something connected to the internet then you’re even worse of, theoretical computer security increases with the complexity of the algorithm(s) used to secure it, practically speaking the more complicated the algorithms are the more likely human error is to occur and leave a whole in the system.

If you accept that some level of insecurity is inevitable and instead strive for the best possible security while maintaining good plans for when it fails, then that’s the best you’re going to get without introducing Big Brother legislation like this.

That One Guy (profile) says:

Re:

Nah, that’s not the problem at all. See, it doesn’t matter how long they take to program a system, it’s only ‘perfect’ until they then give the customers a go at it, and the massive tide of stupid comes crashing down, ruining their efforts.

So unless you’re claiming that it’s their fault for not knowing about, planning for, and programing against every single stupid thing a user could do with a given piece of software, then I really don’t see how it could be entirely their fault.

Josef Anvil (profile) says:

Call the bluff

If it’s going to be a partisan fight, then the Dems should just call the bluff and vote against the bill. Leave it up to the GOP to prove any damage from cybercrime.

Since most of Congress can’t seem to even find Google on the web, what’s the chance they would even recognize a cybercrime if it happened.

btw is CISPA supposed to stop identity theft or phishing? WTF are they even considering cybercrime? How does a cybercrime make planes fall from the sky? Congress should really stop using Hollywood writers to write the laws.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

the AA’s don’t support the bill

Only someone trying to misinform would say that….

they don’t have a dog in the fight

Who bribes/lobbies/corrupts the government ?
IP , IP , IP the “AA”‘s don’t have a dog in that fight..

But …but…but ( hey… am I wrong ? )

Ignorant LOSER or Someone trying to con people ?
Either way..
YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

WHY ?

Cause google etc… get 100% IMMUNITY
If they hand over all their databases to the government.
Google are guilty as you say( for NON-IP reasons )

100% IMMUNITY
100% IMMUNITY
100% IMMUNITY

Any corporation would agree to that…ffs

Naive to blame Google.
It should NOT have been offered to ANY corp.

BUT … The “AA’s” are guilty.

They have been pushing the cyber security of IP

Anonymous Coward says:

CISPA is becoming a repeat of the PATRIOT act. The PATRIOT act attacked our right to privacy and other freedoms, but the politicians HAD to keep on passing and extending it again and again, for fear of being blamed if another terrorist attack happened.

Democrats frankly should wise up and realize that republicans are going to blame any kind of attack on them, even if they weren’t in charge when it happened, just like republicans blamed Clinton for 9/11 because he cut military spending (something republicans conveniently forgot Bush #1 did first, and even called it a peace dividend).

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

Any corporation would agree to that…ffs

That’s odd. There are a whole lot of companies (tens of thousands) who haven’t agreed to support the bill. Including all of the studios and labels. You should talk to your doctor. I understand the new generation of anti-psychotic medications might really be helpful for you.

wvhillbilly (profile) says:

Re:

You say the RIAA/MPAA don’t support CISPA? If this is the case why were they so gung-ho to get SOPA/PIPA, ACTA and TPPA rammed through, even to the extent of doing everything in deepest secrecy? And they’d have done it if insiders to the plots hadn’t leaked the news and triggered massive protests against these bills.

Now who’s the shrill, hysterical loser?

wvhillbilly (profile) says:

Re:

I wouldn’t put it past Obama to sign CISPA, notwithstanding his promise to veto it. After all, he promised not to sign the NDAA with its provision of allowing arrest and indefinite detention of anyone on US soil for any reason and without any due process, then sneaked and signed it on Jan 2 when he probably thought nobody was looking.

The man is a liar and a sneak and has repeatedly ignored and violated the constitution with executive order after executive order many of which are unconstitutional on their face and all of which usurp the role of the congress.

I see the USA on a fast track to becoming a police state, and Obama doing everything he can to push it along as fast as he can. IMO,he ought to be impeached and booted out of office. He doesn’t even meet the qualifications for president of the United States, and his “birth certificate” has been shown to be a heavily doctored fake.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

You are, Cletus. Have you read the bills you cite? Can you even read at that level? Maybe you’d like to compare and contrast the provisions of SOPA/PIPA, the two foreign trade agreements and the CISPA bills for us. And what secrecy are you babbling about? SOPA/PIPA and CISPA are all part of the Congressional Record. ACTA and TPP are widely reported on. I guess that since you live in WVA your internet consists of a dial-up modem connected to a tin can and string that you don’t get the latest news. Get out of the doublewide, drive an hour to town and ask the librarian to read you a few articles on these subjects. Hell, turn it into a vacation and bring your wife/sister with you.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...