Stay calm: We're not witnessing the rebirth of SOPA. CISPA is not the end of the Internet as we know it.
Internet activists have been up in arms about a bill called Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Act. You've probably seen on your Facebook news feed. The bill has good intentions: it seeks to aid companies under cyber attacks by allowing for information to flow more easily between them and the U.S. government.
Critics charge the bill with being another attempt to bring Nineteen Eighty-Four to life by being broadly defined and easily manipulated. Groups like the ACLU contend that because the bill does not specifically mention what information is shareable, it opens the door for companies to share personal information.
Emails can be shared, content and websites can be blocked, and other personal information is fair game according to detractors of the bill. They paint a terrifying picture.
Much to the anger of web activists, hundreds of companies, including Facebook, have signed on in support of CISPA. The more companies that sign on, the bigger the paranoia fire becomes.
Yet CISPA seems to be more of a lesson in not naming your bills something catchy than a lesson in creating a totalitarian police state.
Firstly, although the bill does not specifically exclude emails as information to be shared, CISPA is clear on the fact that the information can only pertain to cyber attacks. Unless that email you sent to your grandma is a plan to hack into Lockheed Martin's database and steal blueprints for the F-35, your information is not being shared.
Transparency is also a major concern for CISPA's critics, who say that the bill allows anything related to sharing cyber threat information to be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. In part, they're right, but mostly this is not a concern.
Only the information that is specifically shared with the U.S. government is exempt from the FOIA. This is to prevent proprietary information from being available with a simple FOIL request. The idea that everything the government does with the information is going to be completely hidden from public view is simply not true.
Even with these protections, the bill's sponsors offered up two amendments in response to critics. One amendment makes it clear that a business does not have to participate, and another prevents the government from forcing a company to give information in exchange for sharing back.
Most disingenuous of the claims by critics is that the bill will allow for content control and regulation of information. No provision of the law even comes close to providing a means to shut down websites or filter content.
Unlike SOPA, which was well intentioned but very poorly designed, CISPA is designed to do what it says, combat cyber attacks on legitimate companies. As much as it would make for a sensational headline, CISPA isn't the son of SOPA.
In fact, it's good to see government taking a proactive stance on a growing issue. According to the Federal Trade commission, identity theft has been the fastest growing crime in the U.S. for some time now, and personal information is often the prize for cyber attackers.
Normally, it's not hard to thwart crime, as most are just crimes of opportunity. If you leave your car unlocked, you've just opened up an opportunity. Locking your car eliminates that opportunity for potential criminals.
Just like in real life, there are easy ways to protect yourself from Internet crimes of opportunity as well. When a major company with sensitive information is targeted for a crime, however, it's not as simple as being careful with your passwords.
Take, for example, last year's attack on the PlayStation Network. The service is designed to bring online gaming services and numerous other Internet resources to PlayStation 3 users, but was the target of a coordinated cyber attack.
After the dust settled, Sony, the makers of PlayStation, discovered that around 70 million of its users' data had been stolen. Names, passwords, addresses, and dates of birth were all taken.
Yet this was only the biggest and most visible of any number of attacks. Companies that handle online banking information, vast amounts of money, and extremely sensitive data are all on the list of groups hit by hackers.
Even Lockheed Martin, a military defense contractor, was successfully infiltrated by a group of Chinese hackers. It's not certain what was taken, but it's apparent that the techno-spies were after plans for the extremely advanced F-35 jet fighter.
The issue takes a new facet when you factor in the direction technology has been moving in the last few years. Now, more than ever, we are on the verge of complete connectivity between our lives and the Internet.
With that, more and more information about us is being broadcasted through the air and to companies. Your cell phone, iPad, laptop, and a myriad of other devices have the capability to hold all your personal information and have GPS units to track your movement.
Google even plans on taking this technology one step further with Project Glass, a seamless integration of smartphone technology with an interface on glasses. Instead of touching a screen, simply moving your eyes will give all the functionality of your Android phone.
This kind of innovative technology is beyond exciting. We're finally moving towards a future that really feels like the future, and the new uses of this technology moves well beyond simple social networking.
The possibilities are truly endless, but also underscore the importance of having an effective system for thwarting cyber attacks. Soon, if someone has your information, he or she will not only know your address, but your place of work and any other piece of information that you ever see through the camera on the Google glasses.
Crime is changing along with technology. Although not every attempt to ensure the safety of our information is a good one, CISPA is a balanced attempt to prevent our life from being taken and sold to the highest bidder by sophisticated Internet thieves.
