Congress has been reluctant to pass the various draconian cybersecurity laws pushed by the administration in recent years, but that may be changing because of the high-profile Sony Pictures hack.
With the FBI ‘successfully’ pinning it on North Korea, at least so far as everyone on Capital Hill is concerned, there is a great deal of pressure for Congress to “do something,” and little interest in the evidence that North Korea had nothing to do with it.
“Do something” in this case means pushes for a full-fledged “cyberwar” against North Korea, a nation with hardly any Internet access to begin with, and an eye toward empowering the Obama Administration to engage in this war on a global level, with long sought-after powers to shutter websites on “national security” grounds.
And more importantly, information sharing. Most cybersecurity bills push for private companies to deliver American customers’ information to government agencies, again nominally for national security. Such proposals had previously produced a backlash, but the furor around Sony Pictures is likely to press Congress to rush such a move through with little debate.
Really, is there any reason to hope?
I was wondering what Feinstein was blabbering about when she was talking about working with companies. So it's going to be a one sided relationship–companies just submit all the info they have on their customers to the government.
I haven't looked but I suspect there's no say to close and erase all the accounts one has out there online?
No. Especially Mr. Zuckerberg will not drop your stuff from his harddisks.
Which is why people should think twice before handing that guy all their private info.
In the words of the Israeli-American who joined the Israeli army rather than sever in the army of his host country:
“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”
Rahm Emanuel
Just another cheap political trick to move this country closer to a fascist military state.
It's the NEW American way…
“private companies to deliver American customers’ information to government agencies”
Quite the reverse, gentlemen, quite the reverse. For our government was created in 1776 by men who were big in the slave trade business, the goal being a paradise for big business.
For it is the corporate rich who supply 90% of political donations and it is they who rule over us, making sure that government keeps them fully informed of all who may cause trouble for big business.