NewsTaco

By Jesse Luna, NewsTaco

When I think of the new Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) bill that passed the House Intelligence Committee I think of the scene from the film “Enemy of the State” where Congressman Phillip Hammersley (played by the late Jason Robards) says:

“Telecommunications Security and Privacy Act. Invasion of privacy is more like it. – You read the Post? ‘This bill is not the first step towards the surveillance society. It is the surveillance society.’”

Where the “Telecommunications Security and Privacy Act” is a cinematic construct, CISPA is not. The CISPA bill, which will is expected to be argued in the next couple of days, allows for more collaboration between the Pentagon and private companies who manage tons of customer data. This means that if this bill is signed into law, the federal government can go to a private company like Google and ask them for information over recent cyberattacks that Google may have fended off. This information could help the government shore up its own security and be prepared for future attacks.

Of course, CISPA covers more than just this type of cybersecurity. The government can knock on a private company’s door if it is investigating and prosecuting cybersecurity crimes, protecting others from danger of death or bodily harm, if it is protecting minors from exploitation from child pornography or similar risks such as human trafficking or kidnapping or if there is a threat to national security. You can read the text of the CISPA bill here (PDF).

Yes, this is extremely broad.

Other Issues with CISPA
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also looks at the issue of whether or not personally identifiable information (PII) should be included as part of this cyberattack intelligence. Many securities experts say PII should not need to be transmitted but Congress members are trying to include it. The ACLU is also questioning the attempt to immunize private companies from sharing this data.

The Fight
Anonymous is calling for a one-day Internet blackout on Monday, April 22, 2013 to raise awareness of CISPA and to send a message to private companies that are supporting CISPA.

There is a STOP CISPA petition on Change.org which already has over 160,000 signatures.

Will you be joining the blackout on April 22?

This article was originally published in jesseluna.com.

[Photo by Aquila]

.

According to the most recent research Latinos are all over social media; we love it, more than any other ethnic, racial or cultural group in the U.S.  NewsTaco has reported on this before. But, while Latinos use social media more, it’s only to an extent – we have our limits.

According to Enhanced Online News:

When it comes to sharing personal information about themselves, Hispanics are more cautious…

So what does that mean? Lance Rios, President and Founder of Being Latino was quoted in the EON report:

Latinos are very loyal consumers. But in order to gain their trust, you have to assure them that you are legitimate. Culturally we tend to be sensitive to giving personal information so easily.

The results of the survey follow what social media insiders have been saying for a long time: that Latinos are innovators, community builders and naturals for taking on social media.

• 90% of Hispanics are likely to be on Facebook compared to 81 percent of the general population
• 57% of Hispanics access YouTube compared to 46 percent of the general population
• 47% Hispanics are likely to be on Google+, compared with 18 percent of the general population.

And yet,

65 percent of Hispanics are willing to share their names on social media compared to 87.1 percent of the general population. Hispanics are also more reluctant to post their relationship status – only 42.5 percent vs. 73.5 percent of the general population.

Here’s a cool infographic that explains it all.

[Photo By the italian voice, inforgrahpic by uSamp]

By Amalia Deloney, Grassroots Policy Director at the Center for Media Justice

Today websites across the country will purposely black out their pages so visitors will see only information about Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Among the organizations joining this fight is the Center for Media Justice —  where I work — as well as our campaign site for Latinos for Internet Freedom, Black Voices for Internet Freedom and the Media Action Grassroots Network.

Admittedly, there is a lot of language that makes these acts hard to understand. Words like “intellectual property,” “infringer” and “rogue sites” hardly makes for good conversation. This is part of the problem — the language makes it feel like you have to be a tech guru, copyright attorney or geek extraordinaire before you see the relationship of these acts to your life.

Sadly, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Why? Because the truth is, SOPA and PIPA will affect everyone and will disproportionately impact communities of color.

What I’m going to focus on are a few issues I think matter to Latinos (and other communities of color) that have more to do with our self-determination and less to do with bits and bytes.

As a community we deserve to be seen and heard. In today’s digital world that increasingly means platforms like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, websites, etc. Sure we use these spaces for socializing, and gossip — and we also use them to organize and advocate for the social and economic changes we need. We depend on an open Internet to elevate our collective voice, preserve our culture and strengthen our collective identity — in all kinds of nuanced ways.

If Congress passes these online censorship models, our voices are limited. Some call that “free speech” but let’s be clear — language is a central feature of human identity and what we say and how we say it matters. When we speak (in whatever format) we’re engaging in a process that’s both internal and external. We’re sharing information about ourselves, and we’re also participating in a process that helps to define “who we are.” When the full potential of our voice is threatened we are forced into a space where others have the power to dictate “who we should be.”

Do we really need another avenue for ICE to be present in our communities?

As intellectual property becomes tied to national security it’s more important than ever that we understand the ways in which the digital landscape and its borders become yet another territory subject to policing and “securing.” If SOPA/PIPA passes, when sites are shut down, ICE is one of the agencies that can come after you. Sure they say it’s about online piracy — but we all know how ICE and its supporters are already caught up in a “criminal” narrative.

Is it so hard to imagine that today’s search for pirates could morph into a wider search under the banner of “security” and “illegality.” It may be a stretch — but it’s not impossible to imagine this slippery slope, especially when you look at the anti-immigrant supporter who sponsored SOPA — Lamar Smith — enough said.

We should be especially vigilant about any laws that have could limit our abilities to transmit this information — through any medium — between and among ourselves and to future generations through specific cultural channels and designated community knowledge holders. The idea that online piracy somehow rises to the level of national concern, and that the very rules that have codified, patented, copyrighted and appropriated our traditional knowledge should be trusted and/or strengthened, should be a source of concern for everyone and especially those within our community who have long advocated about their way in which information is treated as an asset in need of protection.

Amalia Deloney coordinates the media policy initiatives of the Center for Media Justice and the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net). Follow her on Twitter @guatemalia.

The U.S. government has been encouraging its employees to spy on people, particularly those who may be dealing with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, via social networks like Facebook. The memo was released a while ago, check out what it says:

“…many of these people accept cyber-friends that they don’t even know. This provides an excellent vantage point for FDNS [Fraud Detection and National Security] to observe the daily life of beneficiaries and petitioners who are suspected of fraudulent activities. Generally, people on these sites speak honestly in their network because all of theirfriendsand family are interacting with them via lM’s (Instant Messages), Blogs (Weblog journals), etc. This social networking gives FDNS an opportunity to revealfraudby browsing these sites to see if petitioners and beneficiaries are in a valid relationship or are attempting to deceive CIS about their relationship. Once a user posts online, they create a public record and timeline of their activities. In essence, using MySpace [or social networks] is akin to doing an unannounced cyber ‘site-visit on a petitioners and beneficiaries.”

Ignoring for a second how horrible this person’s grammar is — they still are essentially advocating that people applying for U.S. citizenship, visas, etc. should be spied on by the government. They’re saying that when you update your status on Facebook, that should have a bearing on whether or not you get your paperwork. Someone who doesn’t understand the difference between singular and plural in English is giving orders to other people to bring you down because you may have Liked or re-Tweeted something offensive.

Notice how the memo doesn’t outline what, exactly, they should be looking for on these unannounced “site visits”?

[Image Courtesy Litsociety]