Anti-CISPA Petition On Avaaz.org Approaches 800,000 Signatures

An online petition to stop the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has reached nearly 800,000 signatures.

The petition, launched on April 5 on Avaaz.org, an online platform for civic organization, describes CISPA as a bill "that would give private companies and the U.S. government the right to spy on any of us at any time for as long as they want without a warrant" and calls on members of congress "to show true global leadership and do all you can to protect our Internet freedom."

Supporters of CISPA say that the bill is intended to help prevent cyber attacks by allowing companies and the government to share information about potential security threats.

But, as The Huffington Post's Gerry Smith explains, many are concerned by the potential implications of the bill:

But privacy and civil liberties groups say the bill's definition of the consumer data that can be shared with the government is overly broad, and once the data is shared, the government could use that information for other purposes -- such as investigating or prosecuting crimes -- without needing to obtain a warrant. They also criticize the legislation for not requiring companies to make customer information anonymous before sharing it with the government.

On Tuesday evening, the bill's authors announced that they would add amendments to help quell the concerns of privacy advocates. The amendments would restrict the government's use of private information to certain categories as well as limit the type of cyberthreat-related data that can be shared.

But as The Hill's Brendan Sasso writes, the amendments still "do not prevent spy agencies, such as the National Security Agency (NSA) or the CIA from accessing the information."

The Avaaz petition urges lawmakers "to immediately drop" CISPA, so it's unlikely that the recent changes will appease the petition's signatories. A separate petition on Avaaz.org that has gathered over 600,000 signatures calls on Facebook, Microsoft and IBM to drop their support of CISPA.

Despite the large number of people who have signed these petitions, it's unclear if this type of online activism is effective.

“Social media tools can be very effective if they complement offline campaigns,” Jillian C. York, the director of international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told The Bay Citizen last year, as reported in The New York Times. “But I don’t think signing a petition does anything useful.”

The bill is scheduled for debate Thursday and slated for vote on Friday.

Read more from Gerry Smith about CISPA and why Facebook supports the bill. Click here to read about the latest amendments that have been added, and for more on the efficacy of online advocacy, click over to The Times.

Photo by Flickr user billaday.

Also on HuffPost:

From our partners

Comments

[Ti Po]

03:33 AM on 04/27/2012

We can all agree that Ron Paul and this freedom movement mainly alive because of the Internet, more so because of a FREE Internet. But there is a HUGE problem again and it is called CISPA! We have to stop CISPA because if it will be law as it was rushed through the Congress today and passed it will effectively have a chance to destroy Ron Paul and freedom as Ron Paul and the freedom movement, this whole Revolution was spreading solely on the Internet. That is the main reason the ruling elite wants to pass CISPA and they are sneaky the sam way as they were with the NDAA that was signed by Obama on New Years eve! PLEASE PEOPLE CONCENTRATE ON THIS AND STOP THIS HORRIBLE CISPA THAT IS WORSE THAN SOPA!
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120426/14505718671/insanity-cispa-just-got-way-worse-then-passed-rushed-vote.shtml

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_cispa/?slideshow

[pbody]

11:34 PM on 04/26/2012

Deleted my Facebook account today...just in time

[ResearchtheFacts]

01:30 PM on 04/25/2012

FB has just made it harder for you to get employment or for keeping it. Now employers or perspective employers don't need your password just your entire FB data archive which could be potentially more damaging.

[RevSpaminator]

02:35 PM on 04/26/2012

Time to take down your Facebook accounts.

[Nathalie Me]

12:12 AM on 04/30/2012

Please sign the Petition:)! The government is out control!

[Eric Marr]

01:20 PM on 04/25/2012

Freedoms for safety. It seems around every corner we continue to lose our freedoms in the name of security, we as a nation must stand up and stop these atrocities against our freedoms.

We can not have it both ways and I rather be in America "home of the free" then in marshalistic form of society where we have to watch our backs against our own government.

The internet is the last bastion of freedom we truly have and everyday it looms closer to being overly controlled. So take a stand against CISPA and acts like like to keep the few freedoms we truly have left.

And yes cyber-security is important however that should be a companies/governments worry and not that of the common man. Let them use innovation or advance tactics farther to keep each company government person secure. Adapt on anti virus software companies.

[Nathalie Me]

12:13 AM on 04/30/2012

Please sign the petition:)!

[sensimilla]

12:36 PM on 04/25/2012

Social media and controlling our spending brings the power to the people in the 21st century.

Those in power are afraid of an intelligent mobilized electorate. Let's give them their worst nightmare.

[Wayne Caswell]

10:15 AM on 04/25/2012

It's good that citizens weigh in with their concerns, and it's clear that the petition has had an impact with the new amendments. Keep it up, but beware also that cyber security is a real and present danger to our national security that must be addressed somehow. It's such a threat that I'd rather fix CISPA than throw it out and stick our heads in the sand.

[Ti Po]

03:48 AM on 04/27/2012

Some of the new amendments made CISPA worse then it was before! It is now worse than SOPA. Cyber security has nothing to do with this at all. There will always be cyber attacks and for that the only good a viable solution is firewalls that any national agency already has. Tell me please how CISPA would make the Internet safer by censoring websites and by digging into our private informations. Do you think that cyber attackers, especially the good and most dangerous once leave any trail of information after a cyber attack? CISPA is allowing the same essentially as TSA, DHS, and now the US Army can do supported by the NDAA. Here I am asking you how much privacy and freedom should we give up for the sake of security? When will it end? Do you want a communist China here in North America? The only solution and the only possible way for a society to yield the best possible advancement - as it is proven through out the history of mankind - is FREEDOM and FREEDOM above ALL!

[Nathalie Me]

12:17 AM on 04/30/2012

Wayne: It's just an excuse! Another way to control us..Please tell me how snooping in your private info can make you safer? You want to know what will make us safer? Bring our troops home to make a strong national defense!.I hope you signed the petition:)