BREAKING: CISA-like cyber surveillance added to must-pass “omnibus” budget bill, gutted of privacy protections

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2015

Contact: Evan Greer, 978-852-6457, press@fightforthefuture.org

Rising demand for President Obama to stand by previous threat to veto

After several delays due to widespread outcry over privacy and civil liberties concerns, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has successfully exploited a loophole in congressional process to include the final version of a controversial cyber bill in the must-pass “omnibus” budget bill unveiled late Tuesday night.

This puts the controversial legislation on the path to a vote without meaningful transparency or debate on the final text, which has been significantly altered in secret negotiations and stripped of nearly all privacy protections.

“It’s clear now that this bill was never intended to prevent cyber attacks,” said Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future, “it’s a disingenuous attempt to quietly expand the U.S. government’s surveillance programs, and it will inevitably lead to law enforcement agencies using the data they collect from companies through this program to investigate, prosecute, and incarcerate more people, deepening injustices in our society while failing to improve security.”

“Congress has failed the Internet once again,” she added, “now it’s up to President Obama to prove that his administration actually cares about the Internet. If he does he has no choice but to veto this blatant attack on Internet security, corporate accountability, and free speech.”

Fight for the Future has been at the forefront of grassroots opposition to CISA, and its previous incarnation, CISPA. Earlier this year they lead a series of high profile campaigns, sparking a backlash that resulted in major tech companies like Apple, Google, Twitter, Dropbox, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Yelp, and Salesforce coming out in opposition to the bill. They have also mobilized more than 15,000 websites for an online protest, and generated more than 6 million faxes to the Senate, along with hundreds of thousands of emails and phone calls.

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Fight for the Future is a grassroots advocacy group with more than 1.4 million members that fights to protect the Internet as a powerful platform for freedom of expression and social change. They’re best known for organizing the massive online protests against SOPA, for net neutrality, and against government surveillance. Learn more at https://www.fightforthefuture.org and https://www.twitter.com/fightfortheft