CISPA Passes The House, As 288 Representatives Don't Want To Protect Your Privacy

from the all-the-others-are-just-14-year-olds-in-their-basement dept

Thu, Apr 18th 2013 10:21am — Mike Masnick

This is not wholly surprising, but after some debate and some half-hearted attempts at pretending they care about the public's privacy rights, the House has passed CISPA, 288 votes against 127. The vote breakdown did not go fully along party lines, though it was clearly Republican driven. 196 Republicans voted for it, while just 29 voted against it (despite numerous conservative groups coming out against the bill). The Democrats split down the middle. 92 Dems voted for it and 98 against. If you compare this to last year, it looks like a lot more Democrats went from opposing to being in favor of trampling your privacy rights. Last year, 140 Dems voted against CISPA and only 42 for it. Either way, this seems like a pretty bi-partisan decision to shaft the American public on their privacy rights. That said, there is still the threat of a Presidential veto (though, with the vote today, the House is close to being able to override a veto). The bigger question is now the Senate, which couldn't agree on a cybersecurity bill last year, and has shown no signs of improvement this year. If you want to protect your privacy, it's time to focus on the Senate, and make sure they know not to pass a privacy-destroying bill like CISPA.

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Filed Under: cispa, cybersecurity, democrats, privacy, republicans, senate, veto

60 Comments

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Reader Comments

The First Word

“

Senator Feinstein Supports Full Immunity

Even if the White House threatens veto, it's possible Congress is going to shove this crap down our throats.

I just got an email from California Senator Diane Feinstein:

"As Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I will shortly be introducing a bill on information sharing which allows sharing of cyber intrusion data with the government with full immunity. In this way we hope to encourage a major effort between the public and private sector to share data so that cyber intrusion can be prevented."

(emphasis added by me)

Holy crap. I swear these wealthy, corporate shill people need to be thrown out on their asses. FULL IMMUNITY.

—alanbleiweiss

”

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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:28am

That's it, FUD Boy! Congress hates our privacy! They're all dishonest douchebags, just like you!
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- Rikuo (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:33am
  
  Re:
  *Reaches for a rolled up newspaper, discards it and goes for a thick, heavy book instead and whacks troll on the nose*
  
  Bad dog! Stay down! Stop yapping!
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  - Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:54am
    
    Re: Re:
    Get a Crowbar next time.
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    - Rikuo (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 12:13pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Oh boy, I can see myself whacking the trolls with that crowbar, Gordon Freeman style.
      
      Excuse me while I sit down with a newspaper covering my lap. I just want to read the news, honestly!
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  - Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 3:35pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Now see, what did that book do to deserve to come into contact with a troll?
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:36am
  
  Re:
  You mean like you, boy.
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:48am
  
  Re:
  What's with this "our privacy"?
  
  They don't give a rat's ass about you. You are already brainwashed. Now move along and make the corporations richer.
  
  And remember: Shut the fuck up. I'm a senator and you are just a citizen:
  
  http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/18/governments-opinion-of-you-in-thirteen-words/?utm_sour ce=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Popehat+%28Popehat%29
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- jackn, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:11am
  
  Re:
  well thanks to this, we can go after you. You are liable to be libel by calling us douchebags. You should put, In My Opinion in the future. Luckily, it will be a piece of cake to track you down and get damages for you calling me a 'dishonest douchebag.'
  
  Man, i just hope the pres doesn't veto, i am looking forward to nailing you.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:50am
    
    Re: Re:
    Truth is an absolute defense to libel.
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    - jackn, 18 Apr 2013 @ 12:23pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I know. He is without defense.
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- Donnicton, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:19am
  
  Re:
  Nice of you to provide real facts, logic and reasons why CISPA is in fact a good thing, rather than simply calling someone a douchebag and completely discrediting any semblance of an argument you might have had.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2013 @ 10:53am
    
    صورة
    علطى
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2013 @ 10:53am
    
    صورة
    علطى
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Reality Check, 18 Apr 2013 @ 7:36pm
  
  Re:
  Lame troll is lame.
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Zakida Paul (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:30am

Looks like the President may have to put his money where his mouth is.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 5:06am
  
  Re:
  "Looks like the President may have to put his money where his mouth is."
  
  That would be preferable to the President putting his mouth where his money is, which is usually the case in this administration.
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AWarnock, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:32am

And I was more than a little miffed to find that the representative for my district voted for this.
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- E. Zachary Knight (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:38am
  
  Re:
  Really? My Representative has a long and deep history of voting for crap like this yet I still can't get him voted out of office.
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Rex Rollman, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:44am

Republicans: they care about you before you are born, but after that, they don't give a fuck.
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AC Unknown, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:44am

We can only hope that this travesty of a bill is stopped dead in its tracks in the Senate. History is repeating itself.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:47am

288 of 'em. Every single one hates our privacy. There is no other explanation. Anyone who disagrees with Mike's personal view about CISPA hates our privacy. There is no middle ground! Either you agree with Mike or you hate America! Yeah!
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- silverscarcat (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:49am
  
  Re:
  Oh, do be quiet.
  
  It's better to remain quiet and thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt after all.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Lowestofthekeys (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:52am
    
    Re: Re:
    He's done that about a dozen times now.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - trinsic (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 2:34pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      And he has been right every time.
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  - AC Unknown, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:52am
    
    Re: Re:
    There's no doubt that he hates privacy (referring to the troll you responded to, silverscarcat).
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  - Zakida Paul (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:53am
    
    Re: Re:
    That ship has sailed long ago
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 12:15pm
  
  Re:
  No not all 288 of them hate privacy. Some have been bought and paid for. Others do not understand what they are doing, a good number are probably old, a few years from death, and just don't care. Finally, at least a couple probably do hate privacy.
  
  None of them have any business running a country.
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  - This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 12:39pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Old people in the pocket of the special interests! All of 'em! Only Mike Masnick represents truth! Sure, he didn't launch the cat signal. But he could have! And "the internet" would have won the day! I am Techdirt! I never forgive. I never forget. I am "the internet."
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 1:25pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      If you hate Mike that much, then why are you reading his blog?
      
      Do something else, like go outside, have a beer, get high, whatever.
      
      I encourage everyone else in this thread, do not respond to this idiot, he clearly has issues, just report his posts, all of them...
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous, 18 Apr 2013 @ 2:26pm
  
  Re:
  How about those of us who agree with Mike AND hate America?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:52am

You guys put out the cat signal and everything. Well, Mike didn't launch it on his site for some reason... Maybe that's why you guys failed. It's Mike's fault! Mike hates our privacy! He hates America (that's actually not a joke, since he really does). He hates us all!
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- AC Unknown, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:53am
  
  Re:
  Do shut up, you pathetic excuse for a troll.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:56am
  
  Re:
  It's Mike's fault no matter what he does, apparently.
  
  Seems like the best move is not to play, Mike ;)
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- jackn, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:13am
  
  Re:
  funny from an Anonymous Coward that is worried about his privacy.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:19am
  
  Re:
  I think you have confused this site with 4chan.
  
  I hate America.
  
  That's fine though, I'm not required to love the country or anything.
  
  And as a side note "don't want to protect your privacy" isn't the same as "hate your privacy"
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous, 18 Apr 2013 @ 2:27pm
  
  Re:
  "He hates America". Well, so do I.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Marcel de Jong (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 3:05am
  
  Re:
  News flash, dear troll, pretty much the rest of the world hates the United States of America. With your obtuse and quite clearly insane Congress.
  And since your Congress is supposed to represent 'The People'...
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- D, 19 Apr 2013 @ 11:59am
  
  Re:
  Are you quietly going off the rails?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 10:53am

so, i wonder how many of that 288 will get voted back into office next election? knowing the way we forgive and ignore everything that is used to shaft us, probably 289!! i really wonder why the hell we are so fucking thick??
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:11am
  
  Re:
  It's because people don't actually follow their representatives' records and go on thinking that the rest of Congress is the problem. It's everyone else that's causing trouble not Sweet Lil' Senator Bobby Joe from down the street and Hometown Hero Representative Davie
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- Suzanne Lainson (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 12:37pm
  
  Re:
  so, i wonder how many of that 288 will get voted back into office next election? knowing the way we forgive and ignore everything that is used to shaft us, probably 289!!
  
  This has never been a big issue to most voters so I don't think it will have much to do with who gets re-elected. Most voters are much more concerned about other issues and if they vote on the issues, the ones more important to them will sway their votes.
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ShellMG (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:11am

In case you missed it, here's the clerk's list:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll117.xml

Sadly, my congressman voted for it.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:25am

So if this goes on past the Senate and Prez, and doesn't get shot down by the SC, where is the actual profit in this bill?

We know that supporters are willing to spend hundreds of millions "lobbying" for the bill, and noone with money spends money without seeing more money or even greater loss on the horizon.

Is the biggest profit in the ability for 'participating companies' to sell or wrongfully divulge information with complete immunity from prosecution?

Is it in thousands of pork-barrel no-show "cyber-defense" contracts on the horizon? (I'm guessing this... nothing says profit like a huge contract with no defined goals or milestones)

Or is it in the governments ability to better support the profit-by-litigation business model being used to prop up old-guard dying industries?

We know we've been sold out by the HoR, but for what exactly?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:45am

I can't believe Mike let us all down like this. If only he'd launched that cat signal. All 288 members would have seen the light--literally. But as it is, all 288 hate our privacy. Anyone who disagrees is just wrong. Only Mike Masnick speaks the truth. He'd never lie or spread FUD or do anything bad. He is my idol.
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- AC Unknown, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:52am
  
  Re:
  Why don't you do us all a favor and go away? You're not helping, you pathetic person.
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 5:03pm
  
  Re:
  I see the obedience school training your paymasters so lovingly paid for worked out well for them. Good boy, have a biscuit.
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CN, 18 Apr 2013 @ 1:00pm

Privacy is a thing of the past, sadly.
Even kids shows are prepping them for the future.

"Special Agent OSO" has little bug shaped spy drones watching children all the time, transmitting to an overhead satellite.
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- Suzanne Lainson (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 1:26pm
  
  Re: Privacy is a thing of the past, sadly.
  There's money to be made invading people's privacy. It isn't just a government issue.
  
  Google Glass and the emerging Glasshole culture | ZDNet: "With Glass, because the device is being worn and there's no indication of when it is being used, one has to assume that the wearer is recording everyone all of the time."
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  - Suzanne Lainson (profile), 21 Apr 2013 @ 8:11pm
    
    Re: Re: Privacy is a thing of the past, sadly.
    Google Glass PARODY! - YouTube
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 1:29pm

I feel a bit better knowing that my rep voted Nay... only a bit...
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barryvm, 18 Apr 2013 @ 3:19pm

Does this bill also apply to data from foreign customers of us companies (or even foreign companies with data centers in the us) ? This is obviously a disaster for businesses as I can see them losing a lot of clients this way. Not to mention the outrageous impact on privacy and judicial safeguards. I don't know if I would trust any us based company or institution with any personal info now. It's overly broad spy bills like these which diminish respect for the law and destroy any confidence in government institutions and democratic decision making.
A victory for fear mongering and corrupt politics over rational thought and the rule of law. Sad.
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barryvm, 18 Apr 2013 @ 3:31pm

Does this bill also apply to data from foreign customers of us companies (or even foreign companies with data centers in the us) ? This is obviously a disaster for businesses as I can see them losing a lot of clients this way. Not to mention the outrageous impact on privacy and judicial safeguards. I don't know if I would trust any us based company or institution with any personal info now. It's overly broad spy bills like these which diminish respect for the law and destroy any confidence in government institutions and democratic decision making.
A victory for fear mongering and corrupt politics over rational thought and the rule of law. Sad.
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- Suzanne Lainson (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 3:46pm
  
  Re:
  I don't know if I would trust any us based company or institution with any personal info now.
  
  I'm curious. Why did you trust them before? Have you been sure how your personal info is being used?
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alanbleiweiss (profile), 18 Apr 2013 @ 3:45pm

Senator Feinstein Supports Full Immunity
Even if the White House threatens veto, it's possible Congress is going to shove this crap down our throats.

I just got an email from California Senator Diane Feinstein:

"As Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I will shortly be introducing a bill on information sharing which allows sharing of cyber intrusion data with the government with full immunity. In this way we hope to encourage a major effort between the public and private sector to share data so that cyber intrusion can be prevented."

(emphasis added by me)

Holy crap. I swear these wealthy, corporate shill people need to be thrown out on their asses. FULL IMMUNITY.
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- The Real Michael, 19 Apr 2013 @ 7:33am
  
  Re: Senator Feinstein Supports Full Immunity
  Their timing couldn't possibly be better, what with all that's been going on in Mass. and Texas. Distractions.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 4:10pm

"I wonder if we could use a kickstarter to buy back some of our representatives."
-FoO, from a comment on the same story at Ars Technica

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/house-passes-controversial-cybersecurity-bill -cispa-in-288-127-vote/?comments=1

This is so good I had to pass it along. The sad thing is, it might work. Maybe?
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oktroellecomputer, 18 Apr 2013 @ 5:58pm

Don't think Obama is "protecting your freedoms and privacy" by threatening to veto CISPA. He's more interested in protecting the government's butt in terms of the fine print and legalities are concerned when knocking down you're door and confiscating you're personal electronic devices.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2013 @ 11:25pm

288 to 127 would be enough to override a presidential veto. That equals about 69 percent, and it only takes 2/3 of those voting. 288/415 = 69.3 percent.

With 20 abstensions, a veto override could go either way, if all 435 members vote.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 9:08am

So is Congress that easy to sway? One bomb and no more privacy. How many bombs will our freedom cost?

Maybe we should not be allowed to make any new policy immediately after a disaster. That way we can reduce kneejerk reactions.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 9:59am
  
  Re:
  Well, if an EXplosion causes massive support of CISPA, maybe well-placed implosions will counteract that support? I can check my pantry for some kind of cookware that can create a singularity to counteract the explosions.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]