Paul Ryan Sneaks Massive Surveillance Bill Into $1.1 Trillion Must Pass Spending Legislation, by Michael Krieger

This stinks. From Michael Krieger at libertyblitzkrieg.com:

On Friday, Congress will vote on a mutated version of security threat sharing legislation that had previously passed through the House and Senate. These earlier versions would have permitted private companies to share with the federal government categories of data related to computer security threat signatures. Companies that did so would also receive legal immunity from liability under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and other privacy laws. Today’s language, renamed the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 (Division N of the omnibus budget bill) mostly assembles the worst parts of the earlier bills to threaten privacy even further.

We have about two days to figure out what this so-called Cybersecurity Act (OmniCISA) means for consumer privacy in the US. That unfortunate timing is thanks to Speaker Paul Ryan’s decision to include language announced at 2am this morning as part of a must-pass spending bill scheduled for a vote Friday.

– From Jennifer Granick’s article: OmniCISA Pits DHS Against the FCC and FTC on User Privacy

I know it’s hard to believe, but yes, Paul Ryan is indeed far worse than John Boehner. The fact that Republican members of Congress chose to make him Speaker of the House tells you all you need to know about the true nature of the GOP and who they really work for (it’s not you). After all, Paul Ryan’s public record speaks for itself. He voted for the banker bailouts as well as the Iraq War. He’s a very well behaved little status quo puppet.

Moving along, what Mr. Ryan just did to intentionally target the 4th Amendment rights of American citizens could be described as treasonous. A move which exemplifies the complete and total disrespect he harbors toward the people he claims to represent. For a bit of context, let’s turn to a post published here last week which unfortunately failed to get much traction titled, Paul Ryan is Aggressively Lobbying to Pass “Frankenstein” CISA Spy Bill Through Congress. In it, we warned:

Republican House speaker Paul Ryan has been leading the charge to push through legislation and reconcile two bills, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (PCNA) and the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement with the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (Cisa), a controversial bill that passed a Senate vote in October.

The speed with which Ryan is trying to push through a compromise has worried privacy activists. “We’ve just learned that the Intelligence Committees are trying to pull a fast one,” Nathan White, senior legislative manager at digital rights advocate Access, said in a recent email to supporters. “They’ve been negotiating in secret and came up with a Frankenstein bill – that has some of the worst parts from both the House and the Senate versions.”

Now we know why he was in such a rush. Rather than allow a bill with such tremendous implications for privacy and civil liberties to be debated on its own merits, Paul Ryan figured it would be a great idea to add it to a “must pass” 2,000 page, $1.1 trillion Omnibus spending bill, which is precisely what he did Wednesday morning at 2am.

To continue reading: Paul Ryan Sneaks Massive Surveillance Bill Into $1.1 Trillion Must Pass Spending Legislation