Anonymous Call For An Internet Blackout Day Against CISPA

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, known as CISPA, was snuck through the American congress by a Republican Majority a few days ago in what can only be described as sneaky tactics by the U.S government.While the majority of the U.S general public were busy paying attention to the events of the Boston Marathon bombings and the Texas Fertiliser factory explosion, the U.S government used this as an opportunity to sneak CISPA through without much resistance. Indeed they succeeded with the bill being passed 288 to 127 in favour.

CISPA has caused outrage mainly because there will be an ability to acquire data about any civilian without the need for a warrant. In summary the U.S government are playing the national security card to gain access to anything and everything that is digitally stored in a totally legal manner. While CISPA hasn’t been passed with the intention of spying on or monitoring citizens, it is feared that it could be exploited in such a way – CISPA itself has no internal mechanisms to force the government to be transparent and accountable about when and why it utilises CISPA to retrieve information.

Anonymous are not at all happy about CISPA. They are calling for an Internet Blackout style protest, similar to that which was done for SOPA and PIPA back in January, in the hope that it will make the U.S government take notice and stop CISPA before it is too late.

Anonymous want to see this protest happen on April the 22nd. After that day we will know whether or not it was successful.

What do you think of CISPA? Do you think a protest will work?

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