Stop CISPA: A Week of Action to Oppose Broad Cybersecurity Legislation

A coalition of Internet advocacy organizations and individuals are launching a week of action to combat the CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.

Viewing CISPA as one of the greatest threats to Internet users since SOPA, the coalition intends to leverage popular outrage to oppose the dangerously broad cybersecurity bill.

The objectionable provisions of CISPA include:

• • Eviscerating existing privacy laws by giving overly broad legal immunity to companies who share users' private information, including the content of communications, with the government.
  • Authorizing companies to disclose users' data directly to the NSA, a military agency that operates secretly and without public accountability.
  • Broad definitions that allow users' sensitive personal information to be used for a range of purposes, including for "national security," not just computer and network security.

The coalition believes that legislation intended to enhance our computer and network security must not sacrifice long-standing civil liberties and protections.

Participating organizations (updated on a daily basis throughout the week)

• Access
• ACLU
• Alexis Ohanian, Co-founder of Reddit
• American Library Association
• Association of Research Libraries
• Bill of Rights Defense Committee
• Center for Democracy & Technology
• Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights Competitive Enterprise Institute
• Competitive Enterprise Institute
• Demand Progress
• DownsizeDC.org
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Entertainment Consumers Association
• Fight for the Future
• Free Press
• Internet Defense League
• Liberty Coalition
• New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute
• NY Tech Meetup
• OpenMedia
• Personal Democracy Media
• Politihacks
• TechFreedom

Here's how you can participate

Join the Internet Defense League, and embed action code onto your website

EFF is a proud member of the Internet Defense League, a loose coalition of websites dedicated to Internet freedom. Inspired by the success of the SOPA blackouts, the Internet Defense League gives its members the ability to show visitors an action button or banner.

The latest action: Stopping CISPA. To join, enter your website's information on the League's website. You will then be given embeddable code that will allow you to display an action alert, either automatically or by choice. (Note: This action is covered by the Internet Defense League's privacy policy.)

This week's action—beginning Tuesday, March 19—is dedicated to stopping CISPA. The alert will link to EFF's domestic action and international action.

Post about CISPA and its numerous issues on your website or over social media

Another way to join our week of action against CISPA is to write about the dangers behind this broad cybersecurity bill. A blog post, a Facebook update, or even a tweet (using the hashtag #CISPAalert) linking to our action alert could go a long way in helping stop CISPA.

We have a number of blog posts up about CISPA's problems, including a general overview post; a thorough FAQ; how it's unnecessary alongside Obama's cybersecurity Executive Order; and a serious loophole in the bill where vague language could give the government broad access. We encourage you to read up and educate your networks—through post or tweet—about CISPA's dangers.

Tweet at Congress

We've built an easy-to-use (and easy-to-share) Twitter tool to help you contact members of the House Intelligence Committee and express your major concerns with CISPA. Tweet at Congress, embed the tool on your own site, and spread the word about the CISPA's issues.

Follow this site for more updates

As this week goes on, we'll be posting more updates, actions, and analyses around CISPA. This bill is riddled with a number of flaws that threaten our right to privacy. Be sure to check back often.