SODOM & GOMORRAH: The American House of Representatives silently and quickly voted in favor of a new bill called the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).
Last year, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), two copyright enforcement bills, inspired thousands of sites to participate in an online blackout. The goal was to demonstrate what the internet might look like if the bills had been passed. Under the existing legal infrastructure, copyright can be enforced by the government if a website fails to comply with a copyright claim requesting that offending material be removed. These claims, which are filed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, are said to be ineffective by intellectual property advocates.
SOPA and PIPA had been successfully defeated after the blackouts, but there is now a new threat on the horizon.
CISPA would remove several legal barriers between the government and companies who have access to personal data about their users. Companies would be able to willingly share information with the federal government.
Unlike the protests against the piracy bills, major tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have been silent. Facebook just recently pulled their support.