IBM Sends 200 Execs To Capitol Hill To Demand The Right To Send Your Private Info To The NSA
from the nice-one,-guys dept
We've talked about various tech companies supporting CISPA, which is really shameful and short-sighted. Yes, it protects them from liability if they trample all over your privacy and provide your private info to the government -- which is why they support it. But if they were truly customer focused companies, they would know that violating your privacy is no way to build a loyal customer base. And, apparently, the right to violate your privacy and hand that info to the government is so important to IBM that it has sent 200 executives to Capital Hill today to lobby in favor of passing CISPA. CISPA is expected to go to a floor vote in the House either this Wednesday or Thursday.Nearly 200 senior IBM executives are flying into Washington to press for the passage of a controversial cybersecurity bill that will come up for a vote in the House this week.What they still can't explain is what laws currently get in the way of this information sharing? We've been asking for years and no one has answered. Everyone agrees that information sharing around an attack can be useful in stopping it, but no one has explained why that information sharing (a) requires a new law or (b) can't be done without wiping out all basic privacy protections for personal info currently provided under existing law.
The IBM executives will pound the pavement on Capitol Hill Monday and Tuesday, holding nearly 300 meetings with lawmakers and staff. Over the course of those two days, their mission is to convince lawmakers to back a bill that’s intended to make it easier for industry and government to share information about cyber threats with each other in real time.
Even more ridiculous is that IBM flat out admits that they want to be able to send your info to the NSA. We've pointed out for a while that one of the major concerns with CISPA is that the NSA -- a military agency -- would get access to your info, despite the general prohibition on spying on Americans. Of course, the NSA has twisted that mandate ridiculously, such that it believes it can now spy on anything so long as they claim it may help them in finding a foreign threat. Technically, the law is about the "target" of the information, and the NSA (and potentially the secret ruling from the FISA Court) has interpreted this to mean that as long as the target of the investigation is as foreign threat, then the NSA can snoop through anything in pursuit of that target.
Of course, most folks have been trying to play down the fact that the NSA would get the info. But not IBM. Nope, they're thrilled to send your private info right to the NSA:
[IBM VP of government affairs Chris] Padilla, however, says companies need to be able to share threat data directly with the NSA “because that’s where the expertise is.”While the NSA does have some knowledge on cybersecurity, it's an exaggeration to suggest that they have "the expertise" on the subject. It also does nothing to explain why your private info should be included.
“It really is a simple matter. The expertise in the U.S. government on cybersecurity largely rests in one place, and that's the National Security Agency,” he said. “They tend to know the most, the soonest about cyber threats and I think, frankly, there is a certain amount of feeling in the business community that you should be able to work directly and share information directly with the agency that has the most expertise.”
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Filed Under: chris padilla, cispa, congress, cyberattacks, cybersecurity, lobbying, nsa, privacy, private info
Companies: ibm
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Meet one of the companies cashing in on the fear mongering.
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And WHERE would they get data from? Google and Facebook.
Not that IBM is good.
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Re: And WHERE would they get data from? Google and Facebook.
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Re: And WHERE would they get data from? Google and Facebook.
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Re: Re: And WHERE would they get data from? Google and Facebook.
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Re: And WHERE would they get data from? Google and Facebook.
Dumbass
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Re: Re: And WHERE would they get data from? Google and Facebook.
What happens when someone visits your house? Does the internet not work for them until they register their MAC as well? What about if you replace the computer or network adapter?
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Re: Re: Re: And WHERE would they get data from? Google and Facebook.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: And WHERE would they get data from? Google and Facebook.
Stupid indeed, since that approach won't work at all. Changing your MAC is quick and easy.
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Meet one of the companies cashing in on the fear mongering.
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IBM has long had a cozy relationship with the NSA. The NSA has required a lot of computing power for making and breaking codes ever since it was formed after WW2. IBM has been a key contractor to provide a lot of it.
This is obviously an issue of money - IBM wants a contract, and their buddies at the NSA want the data. Match made for a law that would let the NSA send a juicy contract to IBM to gather, collate, data mine, and then supply it all back to the NSA. IBM spends a few million lobbying, gets back many millions in government contracts. Military-industrial complex, I think I remember something about that.
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"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose". C'est la.
Just when I thought they'd seriously become not evil, they go and do something stupid like this.
Sigh (/CRAP!!!111).
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today's news
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I guess we'll get another 10+ years of the TSA needlessly groping grandmothers. Joy.
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Re: today's news
...I feel like I've donned a tinfoil hat that won't come off. that' is not how a government should come across.
EVER.
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Parsed that as die by cyber-terrorism paranoia. :-P
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Very nicely put, but let me fix that for your for accuracy:
While the NSA does claim some rudimentary knowledge on cybersecurity, it's an abject fantasy to suggest that they have "any clue" on the subject of cyber defense.
There is nothing in CISPA that will unhack an iDevice, on the contrary it will be easier to find.
There is nothing in CISPA that will stop anyone's personal data and weekend photos spilling onto the Time's Square marquee.
There is nothing in CISPA that will speed any defensive action, save for the speed with which courts could dismiss identity theft claims from the victims, given an industry-government alliance.
Your information has value on the open market.
Companies give away information sucking hardware and services in order to profit from that information. (See Google, Amazon, etc. etc.)
Your government wants a cut.
Enter CISPA.
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LOL.
And they're $1000/hr tools they're sending, too. That pilgrimage to the hill is going to cost them a megabuck or more.
Which makes me suspect they have something big at stakes. A contract with the NSA, perhaps. Or maybe something worse.
For example, what if their Thinkpad drive encryption has had a backdoor all these years, and the NSA has the skeleton keys? All those border laptop searches where the laptop is sent somewhere that takes a long time to reach and return from ...
Maybe they're afraid of possible lawsuits, and would really love a change of the law that removed their liability.
Of course, their liability is, in that event, currently blackmail leverage the government has on them, so they would really need to beg to be let off the hook on that, and maybe promise some really big campaign donations to key people.
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You're mistaken.
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Re: TD. WTF is going on?!?
Are you running housekeeping jobs in the daytime, or what?
Is your IT guy currently unavailable/in the hospital?
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You're mistaken.
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NEWSFLASH...
That is all return to your normal head down positions.
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This is a carefully worded and factually correct statement. Now give us our money.
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Re: And they're $1000/hr tools they're sending
IIRC my brief time in the corporate world, most of those tools will be 20-32 years old and blonde. This may be more effective that you originally imagined...
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No company is "customer focused" THEY ARE PROFIT FOCUSED, you idiot.. yes, true they use customers to make that profit, But they are in business to conduct business, which is the process of making profit..
you've never run a business have you !!!!
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If any corporation sends 200 execs to any event it will be for profit. There is no other reason thats explainable. IBM seems to be acting as an, or in behalf of a, special interest group for reasons that can only be for corporate gain. Please argue with me, tell me am wrong.
These people profit on providing software solutions that harvest data. Who cares, on the level of corporate profit, for constitutional privacy concerns. What forced costly updates to IBM systems would be required to satisfy new government rules for data taking.
Privacy? Personal life and security? Who cares? Not IBM that seems for sure.
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Not IBM's First Time As a Betrayer of Innocence
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No company is "customer focused" THEY ARE PROFIT FOCUSED, you idiot.. yes, true they use customers to make that profit, But they are in business to conduct business, which is the process of making profit..
you've never run a business have you !!!!
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They tend to know the most, the soonest about cyber threats...
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