FOLLOWING THE FOLLOWERS Episode #3a: The EFF

Well the first two episodes of FOLLOWING THE FOLLOWERS was well received, so I thought it was worthwhile to kick out episode #… THREE!!!!

This new segment basically will select four or five followers of this blog (thanks to all of you who are now following this blog) and/or blogs I follow and just promote particularly interesting things I find on their pages:

Okay onto the promoting 🙂 :

I’m a paid up card carrying supporter of the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) and I have to say I consider them an essential organization for ANY OF US who have an online presence or make use of this wonder we call the internet and the digital age.

Quite frankly our elected representatives are out of their depth when it comes to protecting the rights of their constituents in the digital age. They surrender our rights to the lobbyist/snake oil salesman with the slickest line, and the fattest wallet.

The EFF discusses just this in their coverage of the recent passage of the CISPA in the House of Representatives.

“U.S. House of Representatives Shamefully Passes CISPA; Internet Freedom Advocates Prepare for a Battle in the Senate

“Today, Internet freedom advocates everywhere turned their eyes to the U.S. House of Representatives as that legislative body considered the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.

For the second year in a row, the House voted to approve CISPA, a bill that would allow companies to bypass all existing privacy law to spy on communications and pass sensitive user data to the government. EFF condemns the vote in the House and vows to continue the fight in the Senate.

“CISPA is a poorly drafted bill that would provide a gaping exception to bedrock privacy law,” EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl said. “While we all agree that our nation needs to address pressing Internet security issues, this bill sacrifices online privacy while failing to take common-sense steps to improve security.”

The legislation passed 288-127, despite a veto threat from Pres. Barack Obama, who expressed serious concerns about the danger CISPA poses to civil liberties.”
—By Dave Maass and Mark M. Jaycox

Read the whole story, and much more here. And when you’ve read enough to get you good and fighting mad. Join the EFF and support those who are fighting for you!

For reasons of ease of reading we’re going to split this latest installment of FOLLOWING THE FOLLOWERS into bite-size chunks, Enjoy this one and another one is on its way!