Errosion Of Privacy Continues

Early on Friday, the U.S. Senate approved the 2,000 page 'omnibus' budget bill that allocated $1.15 trillion in government funding.

 Later in the day, President Obama signed it into law. Because the budget bill was so important, many other pieces of unrelated legislation were tacked onto it, including the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, a bill notable for giving the government increased internet surveillance powers. 

Civil rights activists and tech experts largely consider it a "privacy disaster," and several lawmakers voted against the budget bill solely for CISA's inclusion.

 Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said, "Unfortunately, this misguided cyber legislation does little to protect Americans' security, and a great deal more to threaten our privacy than the flawed Senate version.

 Americans demand real solutions that will protect them from foreign hackers, not knee-jerk responses that allow companies to fork over huge amounts of their customers' private data with only cursory review.

" Corporations in the U.S. will now have "legal immunity when sharing consumers' private data about hacks and digital breaches."

The full omnibus is available online (PDF). The CISA provisions start on page 1,728.

 It’s a flagrant attempt to expand U.S. government’s surveillance programs.

 Congress is dirty in their ways.

They snuck a much worse version of CISA - the terrible surveillance and incarceration bill - into the omnibus, a budget bill.

 It has language in it that allows many federal agencies to use our data for their purposes.

 Inevitably, the FBI and law enforcement agencies will use the data they collect from companies through this program to investigate, prosecute, and incarcerate more people, deepening injustices in our society while failing to improve security.

Meanwhile. 

.

Privacy Badger

.

  https://www.peerio.com/

 http://shekinahfellowship.blogspot.com/