The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has not sparked too many protests compared to SOPA and PIPA, but it is certainly a reality and the US House of Representatives has passed the bill by a vote of 248-168.

But the result has not come as a surprise as there have been no major US corporations opposing CISPA. Although there were protests from advocate groups such as Demand Progress, Sum of Us and the Center for Democracy & Technology, no major technology corporations have come out against the controversial bill like the way Facebook, Reddit, Wikipedia and others did against SOPA.

But it is unlikely that the bill would clear the Senate. On Tuesday, a statement from the White House condemned the legislation and on Wednesday, President Obama threatened to veto it saying that the bill “fails to provide authorities to ensure that the nation’s core critical infrastructure is protected while repealing important provisions” of privacy law.

Just to refresh your memory, CISPA will allow Internet companies and the US government to share information with each other for protecting and defending themselves against cyber attacks. That means that the government can get access to web users’ private data if a cyber threat is suspected. That’s certainly against Americans’ privacy rights.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said that the bill is “needed to prepare for countries like Iran and North Korea so that they don’t do something catastrophic to our networks here in America”.

But according to David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress, “Congress needs to wake up and respect Americans’ growing concern about increased corporate and government control of the Internet. We applaud President Obama’s veto threat, and urge members of the House to oppose CISPA, even while supporting amendments that would provide greater privacy protections. The Internet is ever more important to the functioning of our society, and more and more Americans are prepared to vote against politicians who interfere with Internet freedom“.

Head here to take a peek at the full version of the bill.

[Image Source]

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Private companies are “encouraged” to “monitor” for “cyber threat” information happening on their networks, even if they have no real reason to do so. As Kendall Burman from the Center for Democracy and Technology explains in the video below, the breadth of the bill is remarkably broad, covering just about any kind of Internet activity at all. It doesn’t even really say what “government” can demand this kind of information, leaving it very vague and wide-reaching.

Ironically, even GOP candidate Rick Santorum went out to say that the Internet is “not a free zone,” and that regulations have to be in place to prevent an “anything goes” environment online. So much for small government. Following the Supreme Court ruling that allows getting strip searched for even the most minor of offenses, CISPA could allow the strip-searching of your online habits too… even without any kind of offense at all.

The post CISPA Bill Even Worse Than SOPA/PIPA appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Proving that they are not at all concerned about the protests against the SOPA and PIPA bills, the members of the British music industry are pushing hard for a block on the site by the British internet service providers (ISPs), including BT and BSkyB.

According to Mr. Justice Arnold, who presided over the case, “In my judgment, the operators of [The Pirate Bay] do authorise its users’ infringing acts of copying and communication to the public. They go far beyond merely enabling or assisting. I conclude that both users and the operators of [The Pirate Bay] infringe the copyrights of the claimants … in the UK”.

The High Court’s ruling on whether the ISPs should prevent their customers from accessing the website is expected to come this June. If the ruling comes in favor of the music industry, 3.7 million users in the UK will be prevented from visiting the website.

Do you think that those numbers are big? According to available info, The Pirate Bay has 30 million users worldwide and earned up to $3 million in advertising revenue just in the month of October last year by creating 4m copies of music and films.

It will be a huge hit to the freedom of the Web in the UK if the site ends up being blocked. And the fact that a legal ruling could bring the curtains down on a site as big as The Pirate Bay should be noted by all those who make a living from a website.

As for all those who are pushing for a ban on The Pirate Bay, you all should stay prepared for what might arrive later on.

The post The Pirate Bay May Go Down In The UK appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

So much for all the black outs and all! It appears like they can do whatever they want without passing any new legistlation. The feds have brought the curtain down on Megaupload, one of the most popular “locker services” on the Internet. No, you haven’t missed anything; SOPA and PIPA are yet to be passed.

Calling it one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States, the FBI and the Justice Department seized the website and have taken seven Megaupload employees into custody accusing them of running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy.

According to the federal indictment, the website is responsible for a loss of over $500 million in media revenue.

The site’s founder Kim “Dotcom” Schlitz has been arrested in New Zealand. But no hints about what’s going to happen to the website’s CEO rap producer Swizz Beatz who seems to be not too worried about the matter probably because he is still a successful rap producer, an NYU professor, and most importantly Alicia Keys’ husband.

And it’s only been a day after internet’s big protests over the proposed antipiracy bills. The authorities didn’t need any new powers to bring down the giant website. And how big it is, you ask? According to the Department of Justice, the website boasted “more than 150 million registered users, 50 million daily visitors and accounting for four percent of the total traffic on the Internet“.

See below if you want to take a peek at the full indictment.
Mega Indictment

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