The Internet Is Not Freaking Out About the SOPA Sequel
Protestors wearing Guy Fawks masks hold the logos of the international hacker group Anonymous during a demonstration against online censorship laws. Janos Marjai/AP
Over 200 sites are participating in an Internet shutdown to protest the new bill, however, a few major names are missing.
Over 200 sites are participating in today's Internet shutdown to protest the cyber-security bill Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which the House of Representatives passed last week. But, the big names that showed up to last year's nearly Internet-wide protest of SOPA—like Wikipedia and Wired—haven't shut down their sites this time, even though opponents argue this bill is worse than any previously proposed Internet regulation. "#CISPA is the ugly fusion of SOPA and PIPA into a super zombie bill determined to kill your online privacy," tweeted out YourAnonNews today, to underscore that very point. The voices speaking out today are very loud, but they don't have the ubiquity or scale of that last round of online protests.
Unlike SOPA which was widely condemned in the tech community, CISPA has the support of some major tech companies for the bill's measures meant to help them fight hackers. Last year Facebook came out in support of the legislation. And though it has since revoked its official support, the industry lobbying group TechNet, whose members include Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Microsoft, sent a letter to Congress earlier this month in support of the legislation: "This bill recognizes the need for effective cybersecurity legislation that encourages voluntary, bi-directional, real time sharing of actionable cyber threat information to protect networks." A few days later, the House passed that bill. The full list of pro-CISPA companies found here also includes IBM and HP.