But tell me again how cops are such brave and good public servants.
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What is CISPA, and what does it mean for you?
CISPA, known officially as H.R. 624, is a cybersecurity Bill currently going through the motions in the lower house of Congress, the US House of Representatives. It is designed to help prevent and defend against cyberattacks on critical national infrastructure and against other internet attacks on private firms by obtaining and sharing "cyberthreat information."
Its sole purpose is to allow private sector firms to search personal and sensitive user data of ordinary US residents to identify this so-called "threat information", and to then share that information with each other and the US government — without the need for a warrant.
By citing "cybersecurity", it allows private firms to hand over private user data while circumventing existing privacy laws, such as the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act. This means that CISPA can permit private firms to share your data, such as emails, text messages, and cloud-stored documents and files, with the US government.
It also gives these firms legal protection to hand over such data. There is no judicial oversight.
To make matters worse, because there is little transparency and individual accountability, those who have had their data handed to the US government may not even know about it or be given a chance to challenge it.
In short, this is bad. This bill has already passed the House, and is moving forward in the Senate. President Obama has said he would veto it, but with his track record, I and many others trust him about as far as we can throw him. (*coughcough* NDAA *coughcough*)
Mike Rogers introduced this bill largely because it would benefit his wife, a "cyber-security expert."
[A]s we've noted all along, all attempts at cybersecurity legislation have always been about money. Mainly, money to big defense contractors aiming to provide the government with lots of very expensive "solutions" to the cybersecurity "problem" -- a problem that still has not been adequately defined beyond fake scare stories. Just last month, Rogers accidentally tweeted (and then deleted) a story about how CISPA supporters, like himself, had received 15 times more money from pro-CISPA group that the opposition had received from anti-CISPA groups.
So it seems rather interesting to note that Rogers' wife, Kristi Clemens Rogers, was, until recently, the president and CEO of Aegis LLC a "security" defense contractor company, whom she helped to secure a $10 billion (with a b) contract with the State Department. The company describes itself as "a leading private security company, provides government and corporate clients with a full spectrum of intelligence-led, culturally-sensitive security solutions to operational and development challenges around the world...
Oh, and Kristi Rogers recently changed jobs as well, such that she's now the "managing director of federal government affairs and public policies" at Manatt a big lobbying firm, where (surprise, surprise) she's apparently focused on "executive-level problem solving in the defense and homeland security sectors." I'm sure having CISPA in place will suddenly create plenty of demand for such problem solving."
So what can you do to stop CISPA? Call your damn Senator's office. Read the aide who answers the phone some of the bullet points herein, and let them know you oppose having our internet privacy stripped away even more. Let them know that if they vote for CISPA you will work to take their seat away. Tell people exactly what this is. And when they say that they don't care about privacy, ask if you can set up a video camera in their bedroom and have their email passwords and then see what they say. Because that's what CISPA will effectively do. Then get them to call their Senator.
CISPA would not have stopped the Monday bombings. I say this as a Bostonian, and someone who has worked in a Joint Terrorism Task Force for the FBI.
I'm not blacking out today. Instead, I'm leaving up badly-needed information. Go forth and help stop this travesty.
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I'm of two minds about this. No, strike that. I'm of one mind; there is no "but" here. There is, however, an "and."
From my Twitter earlier today, where I seem to do a lot of my best thinking lately:
"Not sure how I feel abt Prop 8 and DOMA cases, except nervous. I loathe marriage, but feel ppl should be able to do it if they wish to."
"At the same time, the LG community has focused on marriage and DADT to the detriment of transfolk, bis, queers in prison, queers of color."
"Plus, if we had good immigration policies, healthcare for all, employment protections, marriage wouldn't be a necessity for basic needs."
"The law student - and yes, queer person - in me wants to see Prop 8 and DOMA fall, because discrimination is never okay."
"At the same time, I'm angry that so much energy has been focused on marriage while basic life needs for more hard-up queer ppl are ignored."
"I hope we win these cases. I DO. And then I want our energies to focus on those who really need it, not just comfortable white cis gays."
I'm not the only one who feels that way. There's a great essay out today, Why I support same-sex marriage as a civil right but not as a strategy to achieve structural change. It addresses how marriage, while it should be equally available to those who wish to partake, is not the end-all, be-all of queer equality, and it sure as shit doesn't address the institutional problems that non-white, trans and genderqueer, impoverished, imprisoned, and homeless queer people face. I mean, shit, if you won't see the couple on a glossy Human Rights Campaign brochure, they don't exist in the queer community.
I want SCOTUS to strike down the bans on marriage, both at the state level and federal level.
AND
I want our organizations to focus on queer youth who are being bullied to death and thrown out of their homes. I want them to focus on institutional racism and the War on Drugs that leads to so many young queers of color to be incarcerated. I want them to address rape and abuse of queer inmates in the prison system. I want them to start talking again and taking action on HIV prevention and treatment while we look for a cure. I want them to address the police brutality against and the oppression and outright criminalization of transgender and genderqueer people. I want them to put as much energy into lobbying for a trans-inclusive ENDA as they did for DADT repeal so queer people can be hired and retained in their jobs. I want them to call for the fucking banks and multinational corporations to pay their goddam taxes so we might actually start on the road to economic recovery so queer people can actually find a job.
In short, I want our queer orgs to give a fuck about someone other than comfortable, white, cisgender gays and lesbians who fit into an assimilationist's wet dream.
And I want those people to be able to get married, too.
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http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/02/09/s
Almost 3 feet of snow fell. There are drifts topping 6 feet, taller than I am.
I spent three hours shoveling out not just my front walk, but assisting neighbors in shoveling out their walks and digging out various vehicles. After three hours of this five of us said to hell with it, grabbed lawn chairs, sat out in the street and had wine and beer. Fuck yeah.
This is a random YouTube video of a dog in my town who does not like snow.
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springheel_jack did it and I'm bored waiting for the blizzard.(x) Shot a gun
(x) Gone on a blind date
(x) Watched someone die
(x) Visited Canada
(x) Visited Hawaii
( ) Visited Cuba
(x) Visited Europe
( ) Visited South America
( ) Visited Las Vegas
( ) Visited Central America
( ) Visited Florida
( ) Visited Mexico
(x) Visited Washington , DC
(x) Seen the Grand Canyon
(x) Flown on a plane
( ) Flown a plane
( ) Served on a jury
(x) Been lost
(x) Traveled to the opposite side of the country
(x) Swam in the ocean
(x) Cried yourself to sleep
( ) Camping in a trailer/RV
(x) Rode on an elephant
( ) Rode on a camel
(x) Eaten just cookies or cake for dinner (and/or breakfast!)
(x) Been on TV
(x) Been on Radio
(x) Stolen any traffic signs
(x) Been in a car accident
(x) Been in the hospital in the past 24 months
(x) Donated blood
( ) Gotten a speeding or any other type of ticket in the past 24 months
(x) Gotten a piercing (ears or other)
(x) Gotten a tattoo
(x) Drive a four-door car
( ) Ever owned your dream car (I don't have a dream car)
(x) Been married
(x) Been divorced
(x) Fell in love
(x) Fell out of love
( ) Flew in Goodyear blimp
( ) Flew in hot air balloon
(x) Flew in helicopter
( ) Drove a snowmobile
( ) Gone para-sailing
(x) Jumped out of a plane
( ) Rode a Segway
(x) Drove a JetSki
(x) Written something that got published (define "published")
(x) Worked on a movie or play
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ETA: Because of DOMA, the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages recognized by states. So when married same-sex couples file taxes, if they file as married at the state level, they still have to file separately as single and pay a higher rate at the Federal level. I've already heard three different well-off white gay cisgender married men howl and whine about this, and I just want to cut someone. IF THAT IS YOUR BIGGEST BITCH GO FUCK YOURSELF, YOU SELF-ABSORBED ASSHOLE.
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NO.
It's like fucking Shock Doctrine for the police state. In the post-9/11 world, the government got unprecedented spy powers. By the way, for those who haven't heard, the Senate ok'd spy agencies and the FBI and DHS reading your email without a warrant. The 4th Amendment was nice while we had it, I guess. Every single time there's some major tragedy, the government uses it as an excuse to beef up the police/surveillance state. And now Barbara Boxer, one of those "liberal democrats," thinks we should be putting National Guardsmen in schools.
We all know how well that turned out last time.
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This is really some creepy as fuck bullshit.
As though the domestic surveillance state isn't already big and intrusive enough, now we have a violent gun nut calling for more state surveillance, this time specifically of people who live with a disability.
As pointed out by Miriam, this is a very bad idea.
For those who don't want to click through to Miriam's wonderful post, here are the basic reasons why (I added a few embellishments):
1. Mental health professionals are already required to break confidentiality and report when patients pose a clear threat to themselves or others. What's the point of having a database with safeguards already in place.
2. It violates HIPAA like WOAH. Although, given that law enforcement can access your medical records without a warrant, and pretty much for any reason or none at all, this seems kind of like a moot point.
3. What diagnoses are included? What is "dangerous"? As has been pointed out numerous times, people with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of violence than the perpetrators of it.
4. Just what the hell would the government DO with this list?
5. Most people with mental illnesses do not get treatment due to cost, availability, and stigma. A database is no good without data to report.
6. Knowing you're going to be put into a government database would seriously discourage people from seeking needed treatment.
99% of mass murders in the United States are committed by angry men, mostly white, seeking to bolster their masculinity by shooting up crowds of people. George Sodini immediately springs to mind. Yet I don't see any calls from Wayne LaPierre for his customer base to be profiled by the government.
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