Major CISPA opponent steps down, jeopardizing White House's veto promise

RussiaToday

The House-approved legislation that would erode Internet privacy for Americans might have just bypassed a major hurdle. The White House official who publically condemned CISPA has suddenly stepped down as Obama’s cybersecurity coordinator.

Howard A. Schmidt announced on Thursday that he will be stepping down as the White House’s cybersecurity coordinator, a post he has held for over two years. Michael Daniel, a 17-year veteran at the Office of Management and Budget's National Security Division, will assume Schmidt’s role.

Schmidt’s announcement comes at a time when cybersecurity is one of the most heated topics being weighed in by lawmakers in Washington. As an opponent of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act — CISPA — Schmidt is believed to be instrumental in the White House’s opposition to the bill. After members of the US House of Representatives passed CISPA earlier this year, the White House declared that the president’s top advisors would suggest that the commander-in-chief vetoes the legislation if it makes it to the Oval Office. With Schmidt out of the picture, however, the future of CISPA is now more uncertain than ever.

Larry Clinton of the Internet Security Alliance tells the Bank Info Security website, “Howard can be credited for being one of the major influences on the emergence of cybersecurity as a major issue requiring far more intensified public policy analysis and direction than was the case before Howard took office." But as an opponent of CISPA, even the White House’s own cybersecurity coordinator found flaws with the bill. Until his replacement officially condemns the act himself, the same cannot be said for him.

In a statement made available early Thursday from the new cybersecurity coordinator, Daniel says, "The challenges in this area are real and serious, but I have the benefit of building on the progress Howard has made through his leadership and I look forward to continuing my career in public service in a new way.”

Army General Keith Alexander of the National Security Agency applauds the appointment of Daniel, whom he says, “understands the challenges that are facing our nation in cyberspace and the importance of moving forward with urgency to address the threats.” Regardless of what level of threat CISPA poses for Americans, however, those that have examined the proposed legislation largely agree that the bill, in its current form, does not address the issue of cybersecurity as much as it raises concerns of Americans over privacy provisions.

This would not be a case, many would argue, where an urgent answer is perhaps not the best way to handle CISPA.

“Cyber security, when done right and done narrowly, could benefit everyone,” Kendall Burman of the Center for Democracy and Technology told RT earlier this year, “but it needs to be done in an incremental way with an arrow approach, and the heavy hand that lawmakers are taking with these current bills . . . it brings real serious concerns.”

Despite widespread approval in the House, opponents from Washington and Silicon Valley alike have voiced concerns. Software developers Mozilla said CISPA “has a broad and alarming reach that goes far beyond Internet security,” and Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) says it exemplifies “the federal government’s insatiable desire to control the Internet.”

White House vows veto, but will CISPA be signed?

Hypocrisy, USA: Obama will sanction countries that block Internet for protesters

Russia Today

The dream of dullards (A.K.A. Barack Obama) announced plans
on Monday to impose sanctions on foreign governments that use
modern technology to tackle anti-government protesters.

United States President Barack Obama announced plans on Monday to impose sanctions on foreign governments that use modern technology to tackle anti-government protesters.

Speaking from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in the nation’s capital early Monday, President Obama said America would soon be taking measures against foreign governments that rely on the latest advancements of the digital age to fight dissidents. The president made his remarks in response to authoritarian regimes in locales such as Syria and Iran, where those countries’ governments have been accused of implementing modern tools involving the Internet and mobile phone technology to keep track of protesters and block them from advancing their anti-national messages to others through social media.

“These technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to repress them,” the president told the press while announcing his initiative. “It’s one more step toward the day that we know will come, the end of the Assad regime that has brutalized the Syrian people.”

Some critics have come after the Obama administration for being hesitant to act against Bashar al-Assad and other foreign rulers alleged to be engaged in human rights violations against their own people. While the president addressed that the latest sanctions are only a small step in penalizing those regimes, they are a step nonetheless in the right direction, many feel. By forcing foreign governments to abort operations made possible through modern technology that would otherwise prevent protest movements, Obama essentially is strengthening a chokehold against regimes relying on the latest advancements to thwart demonstrations.

In other words, however, it’s a classic case of “Do as I say; not as I do.”

While the president’s announcement is indeed positive news for pro-democracy demonstrators across the globe that are threatened by governmental intervention, Obama is at the same time encouraging other countries to abort the same practices that the United States has been documented doing themselves as of late.

The White House has previously linked the Syrian government with working out a deal with telecom company Syriatel, the details of which would force the privately owned cell phone service provider to nix network coverage in areas where the government planned anti-rebel attacks. Syriatel is also believed to have recorded mobile phone conversations on behalf of the Assad government, claims the White House.