Is CISPA the New SOPA?

The same groups that fought off the anti-piracy bill Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are now rallying the Internet community against Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Protection Act (CISPA). Like all good advocacy groups these days, Internet activist groups Demand Progress and Fight for the Future are employing social media in a big way in the campaign to put added pressure on lawmakers. On the same day CISPA was introduced, Demand Progress and Fight for the Future delivered to the Hill a petition with 300,000 signatures opposing the act. The groups also set up a dedicated Twitter account (@CISPApetition) that automatically tweets (under the hashtag #NoCISPA) a portion of the signatures every hour to Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), the ranking member of the committee. Other organizations, including Free Press and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are also collecting signatures for online petitions opposing the bill. In total, the groups have amassed more than 1 million signatures to date. Opponents of the bill argue it violates consumer privacy because it would allow companies to share users' private data with the government in unprecedented ways. Aaron Swartz, co-founder of Demand Progress, who died in January, had said, "It sort of lets the government run roughshod over privacy protections and share personal data about you."