Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. arrives to pose for photographers in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2015. The junior Senator, who launched his political career by advocating for the prosecution of journalists who share government ‘secrets’, is a signatory to the Cyber-security Information Sharing Act.
(TFC) – While the government is attempting to cast it as a cyber-security measure, the bill is only designed to allow companies to share your information with the government and other companies. It also allows the government to turn over your information to private companies.
The spying bill is named the “Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act” [CISA]. Only one senator voted against the bill, and it passed in the secret committee with bipartisan approval. It still seems the only thing the parties can agree on is taking away your rights and establishing control systems to keep you in your place. As George Carlin said:
“The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out”
The bill doesn’t require companies you do business with to strip away your personal information before handing data over to the government.
The Center for Democracy and Technology wrote a letter condemning the bill earlier this month. In the letter, the organization correctly pointed out that:
“The lack of use limitations creates yet another loophole for law enforcement to conduct backdoor searches on Americans – including searches of digital communications that would otherwise require law enforcement to obtain a warrant based on probable cause. This undermines Fourth Amendment protections and constitutional principles.”
The bill is, of course, being sold to the American people under the guise of protecting Americans from terrorists, but given that more Americans are killed by police than terrorists each year, America would probably be safer if we handed the data over to Islamic insurgents instead of giving it to law enforcement.
The bill also allows private companies to engage in legalized hacking, while wearing the mask of conducting the attacks as “countermeasures.” The letter addressed this as well:
“this is highly inadvisable. CISA permits companies to recklessly deploy countermeasures that damage networks belonging to innocent bystanders, such as a hospital or emergency responders that attackers use as proxies to hide behind, so long as the deploying company does not intend that the countermeasure result in harm.”
There is absolutely no benefit to the American people. The only thing this bill does is subject Americans to more surveillance by a government that is overstepping its bounds on a daily basis while bringing Americans to the point of violence in an attempt to reclaim their lost freedoms. It provides no safety net for Americans. In fact it endangers them by placing hospitals and first responders at risk.
Senator Ron Wyden cast the only vote against advancing this bill. He called it “a surveillance bill by another name.”
The other members of the committee that is attempting to strip you of your Constitutionally-protected and natural rights are:
Richard Burr
Diane Feinstein
James Risch
Dan Coats
Barbra Mikulski
Marco Rubio
Mark Warner
Susan Collins
Martin Heinrich
Roy Blunt
Angus King
James Lankford
Mazie Horono
Tom Cotton
The Fifth Column has taken the liberty of including a link to every senator’s phone number here. The document produced by the Senate is intentionally confusing. You must dial the Washington, DC area code (202), and then dial “22” before dialing the five digit number listed by the Senator’s name.