It’s the age-old question that has no easy answer: What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news? In Washington, just as in Augusta, legislators are currently introducing bills for the new session – and some are a whole lot better than others. Here in Maine we’re focusing heavily on privacy this year, including online activity. Legislators in Washington are thinking about online privacy as well, but two big proposals couldn’t be farther apart. Since I’m of the bad-news-first ilk, let’s start with the troublesome bill.
In Washington, acronyms are more abundant than lobbyists, so you’ll be forgiven if you can’t remember the details of CISPA, which we blogged about last April. In short, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act is a cyber-spy bill. It allows the National Security Agency (NSA) and the military to collect your private Internet records. It also allows companies to turn over your sensitive Internet records directly to the NSA and the Department of Defense without requiring them to make even a reasonable effort to protect your privacy. It even gives those companies broad immunity so they can't be held accountable if your private information is breached!
The House passed CISPA last year – despite a veto threat from the Obama Administration – but thanks to your activism the Senate bill was changed to include significant privacy protections. A new Congress is in town, though, and the House is back at it again. We can’t let the same dangerous bill pass this year, and we may need your help in the weeks ahead. Your online privacy must be protected, so be on the lookout for ways to get involved.
There’s also some good news out of Washington. Much like we are doing here in Maine, legislators are proposing a bill in Congress that would prohibit employers from demanding access to your social network accounts. The bill, which would also apply to schools and universities, is appropriately named the Social Networking Online Protection Act (SNOPA) and it was introduced last week. In a double-dose of good news, Maine Representative Chellie Pingree has already signed on as a co-sponsor!
We’ll be actively following both of these bills as the legislative session rolls on, and we’ll likely call on you to act once a vote nears. When it comes to online privacy, we have to make sure that the good bills pass and the bad bills don’t.
