Somewhere Everywhere, Big Brother Is Smiling: Congress Sells Your Privacy For A Cool $84 Million

from the $84M-isn't-money;-it's-a-motive-with-a-universal-adapter dept

In case you were wondering why so many Democrats switched sides during the most recent CISPA vote, the answer is exactly what you think it is: $$$. And lots of it. Last year's CISPA vote only managed to secure 40 Democrat supporters. This time around, the number leapt to 92.
[A] new coalition of special interests, which include America's two largest cellular service providers AT&T, Inc. and Verizon Wireless -- jointly owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc. -- as well as two of the nation's largest software firms Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp., came together to create a similar data grab bill (Microsoft has since renounced its support). Security firms like Symantec Corp. also backed the bill.

Pushing the bill through was $84M USD in funding from special interest backers.
$84 million is change-of-heart money, although one imagines those contributing checked and double-checked their "sponsored" representatives to make sure they were all on the same page. As DailyTech points out, nearly $86 million went into the SOPA push and most of that turned out to be wasted money.

Last Monday, two hundred IBM executives visited the White House to make a last minute push for CISPA. Whatever they said or did must have been very persuasive. By the end of the day, 36 new sponsors had signed on to the bill, up from a very lonely two previous to IBM's visit. Unsurprisingly, financial motivation was involved, according to numbers gathered by Maplight.
New co-sponsors have received 38 times as much money ($7,626,081) from interests supporting CISPA than from interests opposing ($200,362).

Members of the House in total have received 16 times as much money ($67,665,694) from interests supporting CISPA than from interests opposing ($4,164,596).
Now, it's up to Senate to come up with some sort of cyber-security bill that has a chance to get passed and dodge a Presidential veto. Fortunately, there's no clear favorite at the moment (although Lieberman's bill seems to have the President's blessing) and with the limited number of voters, the Senate is much more prone to be gridlocked by partisan politics. Of course, a daylong visit by a few lobbyists could win over just enough hearts and minds to be dangerous. In the meantime, it would probably do these senators a world of good to hear from their constituents, if only to remind them that there are plenty of actual people out there who have to live with the consequences of bad legislation.
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Filed Under: cispa, congress, cybersecurity


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  • icon
    Akari Mizunashi (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 5:51am

    For sale: The United States of America

    To remit payment, please contact any local Senator in the US Government. Upon receipt of payment, anything you want shall be granted, regardless of the rights of the people.

    Three simple words: "We The People", completely ignored by the government.

    I will probably live long enough to see this country enter another revolution, if this keeps up.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 7:35am

      Re:

      There won't be enough interested people. They'll be too busy watching American Idol and Fox News to give a damn.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:42am

        Re: Re:

        Not that it is much of a saving grace but I thought I saw a headline that the re-run of Big Bang Theory beat out American Idol in the ratings last week.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 9:42am

          Re: Re: Re:

          Big Bang Theory strikes me as the kind of show where CISPA would be something Sheldon would be against and the fact that he's against it would be the punchline.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        tqk (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 10:20am

        Re: Re:

        There won't be enough interested people. They'll be too busy watching American Idol ...

        The Continental Army was never more than a tiny fraction of the population of the Thirteen Colonies, yet they won against a fairly committed superpower of the age which controlled vast resources just North of them in Canada. I've always thought it amazing that the Brits managed to lose that fight.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 6:37pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Well, it was our ships and guns vs. their ships and guns. It wasn't our guns vs. their fighter planes, bombers, drones, tanks, helicopters, etc..

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Eric, 22 Apr 2013 @ 3:00pm

        Re: Re:

        I'm more worried that most people won't take action, because they believe everyone else is too busy watching American Idol and Fox News to give a damn.

        I'm afraid that most people ARE interested, but are apathetic because they believe they are surrounded by fools. I'm worried this is the greater lie being delivered.

        If you're awake to what's going on, DO SOMETHING. We all need to stop being so passive and start taking action to affect our futures.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Uriel-238 (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 3:25pm

          I've done all the calling and signing I'm supposed to do.

          Though it seems a lot of my associates either can't be bothered or don't understand what the big deal is.

          Talk about a Cassandra complex.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Suzanne Lainson (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 3:33pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          If you're awake to what's going on, DO SOMETHING. We all need to stop being so passive and start taking action to affect our futures.

          I stay involved. But my priorities may not be yours. Here's what I care about most.

          Pictures Of Environmental Destruction - Business Insider

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 7:49am

      Re:

      China already owns us. We're trillions of dollars in debt to them.

      At this point, what's another $84 million?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Gary, 22 Apr 2013 @ 10:25am

        China does not Own us

        Our debt to china is 1.2Trillion. That's singular not plural.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Uriel-238 (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 3:27pm

          Re: China does not Own us

          And China's economy depends heavily on that of the United States, so they're not eager to shake us down and kill the proverbial goose.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Jeff (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 7:34am

    Congress is a cesspool of corruption, cronyism and cash (wow! that's a lot of c-words).

    Congress currently has an approval rating somewhere below 10% - which, I would guess, is the ratio of corporations (whose voices do count) to people (whose voices don't count).

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      S. T. Stone, 22 Apr 2013 @ 7:49am

      Re:

      I can think of another ‘c’-word to describe a number of our lawmakers…

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        el_segfaulto (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:32am

        Re: Re:

        InComprehensibly corrupt charlatans creating certain cash cows for their corporate chiefs. Crapping over the constitution is certainly how capitalism chews through our culture.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 10:50am

        Re: Re:

        Beat me to the punch there

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ninja (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 7:54am

      Re:

      Amusingly it's the money of "we the people" that runs the show. Now try to stop paying taxes to protest this to see how fast you are jailed and have your life destroyed.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Uriel-238 (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:30am

        Taxation without representation.

        I remember this was an important concept once. It triggered some relevant event...

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      greg, 22 Apr 2013 @ 4:28pm

      Response to: Jeff on Apr 22nd, 2013 @ 7:34am

      Well Said Jeff! I agree completely

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Ron, 23 Apr 2013 @ 5:15pm

      Response to: Jeff on Apr 22nd, 2013 @ 7:34am

      When the party is almost over they get all they can, knowing they won't have another chance. What will they have when money has no value, due to their greed and stupidy....

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Zakida Paul (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 7:51am

    This the problem with modern politics. The people we elect can and will sell our interests down the river to maintain the bribes (sorry, donations) they receive from corporation.

    To put a tech slant on things, the system is BSODing and needs an urgent restore.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    out_of_the_blue, 22 Apr 2013 @ 7:52am

    Use Google for some news you may have missed:

    "Reddit Cofounder Calls on Google's Larry Page to drop support CISPA-- the only way we can beat CISPA at this point is to persuade Google to ..."

    http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1cqwe3/reddit_cofounder_calls_on_googles_larry_p age_to/

    --------

    http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/04/reddit-opposes-cispa/

    ----------- ---

    Google, Apple Lead Massive List of Companies Supporting CISPA

    http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/04/12/1759237/google-apple-lead-massive-list-of-companies- supporting-cispa

    ---------------

    BUT YET AGAIN, no mention of Google's support for CISPA here at Techdirt. Why is that?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anthony, 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:01am

    How much?

    So, people of America, once again the special interests have paid for laws that suit them and not the people of America.

    Thanks so much for selling the freedoms of the world down the river, literally this time.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:05am

    'Now, it's up to Senate to come up with some sort of cyber-security bill that has a chance to get passed and dodge a Presidential veto.'

    strange how there is no mention whatsoever of the trying to please those they are supposed to represent, isn't it? why oh why is there virtually no change each year to who gets voted into the position of Senator? surely there must be enough out there that can actually do what they are supposed to and not be more concerned with just increasing their bank balance? how about putting the Senators in place atm under surveillance to see how they like it?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ECA (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:19am

    Get a hint

    Something to realize..

    YOU PAID FOR IT..
    Where do you think they GOT THE MONEY..FROM YOU.
    AND you will be Paying for it every time you purchase something.

    If you dont know..
    Over 1/2 the price you pay from these corps, is PAID by you for adverts, and lawyers and every OTHER thing they want/do..

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Tom (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:22am

    Pragmatic for legal reasons for big tech companies

    Many of the big tech companies backing the bill have been sold on it as it is a legal "get out of jail free" card for any and all abuses of personal information that might otherwise be actionable.

    I would be surprised if there was even one general counsel at any tech company likely to be affected by CISPA recommending against the bill.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:28am

      Re: Pragmatic for legal reasons for big tech companies

      Seriously.

      "You mean they have to prove bad faith to successfully make any privacy violation actionable? Where do I sign!"

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Suzanne Lainson (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 10:31am

      Re: Pragmatic for legal reasons for big tech companies

      Many of the big tech companies backing the bill have been sold on it as it is a legal "get out of jail free" card for any and all abuses of personal information that might otherwise be actionable.

      I would be surprised if there was even one general counsel at any tech company likely to be affected by CISPA recommending against the bill.


      This is my perception of what goes on between tech and DC. I don't think DC does anything related to security that isn't approved of by private enterprise. They work too closely together to separate it out. I think the "government is bad" campaign is primarily a way to divert people's attention from just how much companies are doing to eliminate personal privacy.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    A Libertarian, 22 Apr 2013 @ 8:31am

    CISPA BAD

    the Senate might kill this again. Especially with Obama saying he will veto it. I don't trust our "Exalted Leader" for anything as far as I could throw him. He has an ulterior motive for vetoing it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      anonymouse, 22 Apr 2013 @ 12:25pm

      Re: CISPA BAD

      Like any good politician Obama will see what he can get out of it and then decide if it should be vetoed. I wonder when the American population is going to wake up to what is going on around them. It is not like the purchase of lawmakers is being hidden in any way, it is all there out in the open for everyone to see.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2013 @ 3:07am

        Re: Re: CISPA BAD

        Isn't this his last term in politics. He is heading for retirement and a fat advance for having someone ghost write his memoirs.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      someone who can speak just a little english, 22 Apr 2013 @ 5:54pm

      Re: CISPA BAD

      *alterior. It makes it increasingly difficult to believe a word that comes off your fingers when you show little to no effort to learn 1st grade material.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      m, 23 Apr 2013 @ 5:07am

      Re: CISPA BAD

      To make himself look good in the rues of the sheeple.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 9:18am

    Can we stop pretending to be the Land of the Free yet? It's a complete joke when our freedom has been bought and sold so many times.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Suzanne Lainson (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 9:26am

    Data is being collected and sold

    We could completely remove government and our privacy would be gone anyway. At some point government will just hand security over the private contractors and there won't be any reason for Congress to debate all of this.

    Between Google monitoring our email, wiring the country so it knows what we get via broadband, glasses that will allow people to match what they see with databases of info on the people around them, cross referencing how we spend our money with all the other details in its databases, tracking us and recording all the places we go, there really isn't any privacy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Kenneth Michaels, 22 Apr 2013 @ 10:01am

    White House or Congress?

    The author stated: "two hundred IBM executives visited the White House". I think the author intended to say that IBM executives visited the "Capitol Building" or "Congress", not the White House.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 11:02am

      Re: White House or Congress?

      IIRC, they actually visited the White House on the way to Congress.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 11:43am

    Lieberman

    Why is Lieberman still in Congress? Wasn't he set to retire?

    Shit is hard to wipe off your shoes, I guess.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    anonymouse, 22 Apr 2013 @ 12:34pm

    Result...

    Anonymise your online activity, create fake paypal accounts and fake amazon accounts if you have to. Never give out your real details to any online organization. Even if it is simply spelling your surname wrong or the last digit of any numbers you give them.Like dob and drivers licence number.
    If anything keep a folder with all your fake details in locked with a decent piece of software and never ever give the password to anyone.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Suzanne Lainson (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 12:50pm

      Re: Result...

      Anonymise your online activity, create fake paypal accounts and fake amazon accounts if you have to. Never give out your real details to any online organization. Even if it is simply spelling your surname wrong or the last digit of any numbers you give them.Like dob and drivers licence number.
      If anything keep a folder with all your fake details in locked with a decent piece of software and never ever give the password to anyone.


      A lot can be gleaned from your phone, even if it is turned off. And the people around you can be monitoring you, too. Even if they don't identify you, technology can do the job for them. If you want to function in modern society, you are leaving a traceable trail.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Thomas (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 1:50pm

    All politicians

    are open to bribery, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. It's interesting to see them put out an actual price tag on bribes though. Bribery is endemic in our government, whether it's Congress, the White House, the FTC, the DOJ, the SCOTUS, or the FCC. Special interest groups simply buy laws. We have the worst government money can buy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Suzanne Lainson (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 2:04pm

      Re: All politicians

      are open to bribery, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. It's interesting to see them put out an actual price tag on bribes though. Bribery is endemic in our government, whether it's Congress, the White House, the FTC, the DOJ, the SCOTUS, or the FCC. Special interest groups simply buy laws. We have the worst government money can buy.

      I think it is worth clarifying that this bribery often comes in the form of lobbying and campaign financing. I'd like to see those issues dealt with.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous, 22 Apr 2013 @ 3:45pm

    Congress can suck it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      That Anonymous Coward (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 6:44pm

      Re:

      they have been. They suck on the teat of "donations" and pass laws screwing citizens over. Then they point out the guy challenging them would change x hot button issue to get reelected and we get screwed some more.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Suzanne Lainson (profile), 22 Apr 2013 @ 4:05pm

    Why I think singling out government is misplaced concern

    Karl Rove, Koch brothers lead charge to control Republican data - Kenneth P. Vogel and Maggie Haberman - POLITICO.com: "On its website, i360 boasts of maintaining a constantly updated database of over 187 million active voters and over 211 million consumers that 'provides hundreds of data points on every American adult that is currently or potentially politically active.'”

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 11:03pm

    I'm not worried. I sold congress information to third world countries for a cool billion. After all congress are the true terrorists.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2013 @ 11:12pm

    Ahh America. For the government, by the government.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    competent_reader, 22 Apr 2013 @ 11:13pm

    You massively over counted

    The $84 million is all contributions from those contributors to those Congressmen, not just those contributions related to CISPA. Most of those contributors are interested in dozens or hundreds of bills besides CISPA, and most of that $84 million would be for pushing their positions on those other bills.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Zed, 23 Apr 2013 @ 3:53am

    cispa BAD

    we need an app that is anti data mining so if they are mining what we are doing online corrupt the Data or water it down by searching on random dictionary words, and phraises from books 24/7 in the system background. The idea is simple and needs further development but you know what I mean

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Uriel-238 (profile), 23 Apr 2013 @ 5:53am

      Re: cispa BAD

      This reminds me of the snippets of sex scenes from literary classics that were used in protest of the Communications Decency Act in 1996.

      If enough people were willing to do it, we should do searches and append random strings of NSA hot-words, so that every quotidian missive is pinged for review.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2013 @ 5:23am

    Anon getting to much power...it's started

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    kristine foust, 23 Apr 2013 @ 9:31am

    Has government always been this way? Or have i just started caring?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    kristine foust, 23 Apr 2013 @ 9:31am

    Has government always been this way? Or have i just started caring?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    kristine foust, 23 Apr 2013 @ 9:31am

    Has government always been this way? Or have i just started caring?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Allen M, 24 Apr 2013 @ 10:54am

    All op

    Mossad-op.
    What else have they done?
    9/11, US and Israel:
    http://www.amazon.com/America-Deceived-II-Possession-interrogation/dp/1450257437

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Crazy man, 17 Dec 2013 @ 2:07am

    is a big, fat, outrageous scam. A few months ago I happened to place an order for a 20 page paper through their website. With “transparent” writer reviews and “affordable” prices, I thought I was making the best choice available. I was wrong. (A bit of background information: I am a senior in college who wanted a sample paper to help me complete my comps). When I first saw website, it didn’t seem horrible. They promised low prices and their writers seemed American or at least fluent in the English language (stupid me thinking that their writers’ names were real). But what was advertised as $7.50 per page quickly spiraled into $25 and $30 per page. On top of that, I realized that if you didn’t buy from a pricey writer, your paper was going to be complete shit. Like illegible. Like an F. So after I placed my order with a writer named God-knows-what in real life, I sat and waited for my paper. I had written a draft of my paper already and was going to use this to ease the process. What I got was COMPLETE GARBAGE. The paper was formatted incorrectly, it didn’t reach the page limit I PAID FOR, and didn’t even address the topics I requested. I think assumes that students who use their service are complete idiots. Some may be. But I am not. I ordered a paper with them because I care about my grades (who doesn’t when paying 50K a year for school) and wanted to IMPROVE my dissertation. So, what did they do when I called to ask for a partial refund? They told ME that nothing could be done. That the terms and conditions I agreed too were set in stone and that it was my fault for having selected the writer that I did.

    Essentially they told me that they can take my money but not offer a shred of accountability when one of their employees fucks up. WOW. And then here’s the best part: when I called to speak with someone about giving a negative review of their service, they told me they would find out where I go to school and make sure I would always regret speaking poorly about them. Real professional. So, as an aspiring computer programmer, A REALLY PISSED OFF CUSTOMER, and someone who doesn’t give a flying fuck that these scam artists have my contact information, I created this website to inform students around the world that is a scam. I encourage fellow students who have been scammed by this company to give their reviews on as well. The more reviews the merrier.

    As I dug a deeper review of past, I found some pretty scary things. Like for instance that their writers are almost all Pakistani (over 30% of their daily web traffic comes from the country) and use FAKE AMERICAN NAMES to pretend they are native English speakers. Isn’t it time this bullshit be investigated? I don’t care what you think about paper writing services (whether you believe they are ethical or not) but at least take down the companies that are pure scams like
    Click on this link and wow yourself:

    That’s right, this website is one of the top 12,000 most viewed in FUCKING PAKISTAN.
    Why? Because they are the “English speaking writers” this fucked up company hires. I have also found evidence that suggests they have other writers in India and the Philippines. I know of a couple of companies that offer real English writers and I thought was one of them. Turns out they’re just a bunch of liars.

    The scam is real. They are thieves who could care less about you. Maybe you’ve had a couple decent papers from them. But sleep well knowing that they will take any measure to screw you over.

    That’s enough. Rant’s over. Fuck you,

    Sincerely,
    A VERY PISSED OFF FORMER CUSTOMER

    Reviewed by Sean Evans on March 25,2013 – Rating: 1.0
    Miserable experience.They ripped me off for $600 for a dissertation and refuse to give me my money back.”
    2 THOUGHTS ON
    Taylor on June 4, 2013 at 10:52 PM said:
    You are right. I have been debating with them for at least a month now, trying to get my refunds, it’s because the writer can’t even write shit or follow the prompt. Claimed to be “professional” yeah right. They also claimed that they refunded my money already by just clearing out my balance. However, the email I received from money bookers still saying I was charged on that date. They lied & keep on saying “your refunds should be in 4-6.” i waited & after 2 weeks, still nothing. I keep on checking back even though they closed my inquiry many times. I mean, I only uploaded $55 for the balance, but I didn’t use it. The money isn’t that a big deal, it’s just the writers & their service is poorly done. I cancelled the writer because 1. Passed deadline 2. The paper was off topic, completely vague, lacks development & much more. 3. way different from U.S writing style 4. Busy schedule & I just want to try how this service work. Personally, i definitely to not recommend this service.

    Reply ↓
    admin on June 20, 2013 at 9:42 PM said:
    Thanks for your feedback, I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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