By SARTRE
Technology in cyberspace is designed to be the instrument of a totality surveillance society. Secretive methods, back doors, observation and collection of data have been in place for decades. CISA is the latest legislation authorization agreement that provides liability exemption for law enforcement and spooks to conduct their systematic assimilation with the codes and functions of technological development for the intended purpose of efficient monitoring of electronic communication.
Coercion for compliance from any resisting tech giant will provide the government with the brute force to muscle their way past any remnants of Fourth Amendment Bill of Right protections.
The fact that there is so much enthusiasm in Congress to further gut civil liberties comes as no surprise but is frightening that the pushback is so weak.
Senate overwhelmingly passes historic cybersecurity bill is reported by CNN accordingly, “It took several tries, but on Tuesday the U.S. Senate approved a measure to help American companies work more closely with law enforcement to fight off hackers. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) overwhelmingly passed with a vote of 74 to 21.”
The S.754 – Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 summary is provided online.
(Sec. 3) Requires the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to develop and promulgate procedures to promote: (1) the timely sharing of classified and declassified cyber threat indicators in possession of the federal government with private entities, non-federal government agencies, or state, tribal, or local governments; (2) the sharing of unclassified indicators with the public; and (3) the sharing of cybersecurity threats with entities to prevent or mitigate adverse effects.
As with so much of the language used by government to sanitize the real functions of providing legal cover for unlawful practices by passing additional unconstitutional laws, CISA is a true Trojan horse. Regretfully, your virus protection will not protect your computer content or privacy.
This is how the mainstream media is framing the “so called” intent and purpose of the legislation. U.S. Senate approves measure to help companies work with law enforcement to fight hackers.
“The bill calls for “real-time” sharing. Companies in a hurry might not wipe the data enough before law enforcement gets it, expanding how much they know about Americans.
Those jumbles of code known as “cyber threat indicators” could still be revealing about Americans’ daily lives.
DHS isn’t allowed to wipe personal data if another agency, like NSA, objects.
And even though law enforcement is only allowed to collect “cyber threat indicators,” cops can use them to investigate “an imminent threat of death,” bodily harm, economic harm and “terrorist” acts.
“It creates the wrong impression about what this bill does,” said Jeff Greene, a top policy attorney at Symantec who wants that language cut out of the bill.
Perhaps most importantly, companies that share too much — and accidentally harm their customers — are protected from lawsuits. A key provision in CISA is the complete elimination of liability for companies that share data. Last week, U.S. Senator Rand Paul warned, “It makes your privacy agreement not worth the paper it’s written on.”
The Presidential campaign for Rand Paul falters not because he is wrong about defending personal liberty, but because so many Americans are oblivious or reconciled to the treason of the District of Criminal political class. Disconnect is obvious and grows worse with each passing year and little ever improves. Actually, it is hard to remember when the last time a true victory came out of the Federal government.
CISA is a prime example of public apathy in an environment of voluntary Facebook disclosure using the countenance of “PC” algorithm censorship.
Objection to additional violations of privacy measures that confuse the masses, while empowering the authoritarians further is expressed in the reasoned position by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Their assessment is spot on in, EFF Disappointed as CISA Passes Senate.
“The conference committee between the House of Representatives and the Senate will determine the bill’s final language. But no amount of changes in conference could fix the fact that CISA doesn’t address the real cybersecurity problems that caused computer data breaches like Target and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The passage of CISA reflects the misunderstanding many lawmakers have about technology and security. Computer security engineers were against it. Academics were against it. Technology companies, including some of Silicon Valley’s biggest like Twitter and Salesforce, were against it. Civil society organizations were against it. And constituents sent over 1 million faxes opposing CISA to Senators.”
If so many tech companies and factions express their opposition to this draconian legislation and can be ignored so easily, how can average Americans protect their most personal information? Well, the most basic common sense safeguard is to be extremely guarded with any aspect of your life that is freely placed online.
In an age of computerization germinating into an artificial intelligence matrix of human replacement, the cause of maintaining the essence of individual identity may well require carving out a wilderness reclusive retreat. However, how many people will drive their Range Rover with GPS tracker and an iPhone to their secret hideaway?
Most people are acclimated to the socialization of popular culture. Addicted to smart phone trivia is a prime exemplar of technology gone awry. Nevertheless, the notion that devices are neutral and are not often designed to embody intrinsic dehumanization is a foreign concept to the trendy crowd.
However, that is exactly where high-tech corporatists are herding the sheeple into the pit of self-induced conformity and submission. Here is where the security hysteria of government imposition tyranny becomes routine in a society that has lost all self-respect.
When Edward Snowden warns that “The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything”, CISA encodes an unconstitutional legality for a domestic spying integration with tech companies and ISP providers that expedites the collection and storage of electronic digital data on ANYONE.
This is the operational purpose of despotic agencies that once were charged with legitimate foreign intelligence gathering that has redirected their capabilities on their new enemy “Patriots”, now called domestic terrorists. The hidden translation in their ciphers is that citizen dissenters are the targets of their echelon antennae and dishes.
The use of StingRay, an IMSI-catcher (International Mobile Subscriber Identity), is a controversial cellular phone surveillance device that fits nicely under the CISA umbrella. Now that it is disclosed, IRS possessed Stingray cellphone surveillance gear, documents reveal; isn’t it convenient that CISA will indeed facilitate sharing for the benefit of added government control. No doubt DHS can be trusted? RIGHT . . . just like the IRS did not target conservative groups.
People need to get serious about the number one threat from the terror coming out of their own government. Congressional arrogance and Senate hubris in passing CISA has become the new normal. Close behind are the likes of Facebook, who may be the secret force behind the surveillance bill “CISA”.
- All privacy policies effectively null and void. Companies can share any private user data with the government, without a warrant, as long as the government says it is being used for a “cybersecurity” purpose.
- In exchange, companies are given blanket immunity from civil and criminal laws, like fraud, money laundering, or illegal wiretapping (if a violation was committed or exposed in the process of sharing data).
- Data is shared with a wide array of government agencies, from the FBI and NSA, to the IRS and local law enforcement. Many of these agencies have been breached within the last year and have outdated security systems, opening up the doors to even more cyber attacks.
- Companies that play along can get otherwise classified intelligence data from the government, including private information about their competitors.
This is the future of the total surveillance state. Those corporatist companies that actively seek to extract the substance of personal identity for use as a marketing asset need to be exposed and punished for their betrayal of trust. When Mark Zuckerberg once called Facebook users “dumb f*cks” for trusting him with their data, he exposed himself for the scumbag that he is.
Technology of personal privacy destruction is a curse. Marry that engineering with the insatiable appetite of the NSA Spying on Americans, and you have a formula for a system of individual identity obliteration.
Establishing and instituting legitimate cybersecurity is a function of inventing and fostering the actual solutions to protect the nation, its businesses and the public. Rewarding a corporate accord for disclosing real time information to the DHS with blanket liability immunity is one additional step towards a complete Fascist union.
Even if the Fourth Amendment is not a top priority for government worshipers, the dehumanization of one’s own dignity should give pause for anyone who still has the ability to look in the mirror. CISA only protects the power establishment as it exposes and exploits your inner most secrets.
Original article archived here
SARTRE is the pen name of James Hall, a reformed, former political operative. This pundit’s formal instruction in History, Philosophy and Political Science served as training for activism, on the staff of several politicians and in many campaigns. A believer in authentic Public Service, independent business interests were pursued in the private sector. Speculation in markets, and international business investments, allowed for extensive travel and a world view for commerce. SARTRE is the publisher of BREAKING ALL THE RULES. Contact batr@batr.org
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