Just months after the internet censorship bills SOPA and PIPA were taken off the floor, a new and similarly scrutinized bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has passed through the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate. So, what's the bill all about, and does it really resemble SOPA? Let's take a look.

The Basics of CISPA

If passed, CISPA would amend the National Security Act of 1947 to allow government agencies to swap customer data from Internet service providers and websites if that data is a threat to "cyber-security." On a basic level the bill is meant to provide a means for companies and the government to share information with one another to fight against cyber threats. These threats are defined as:

The term cyber threat information' means information directly pertaining to a vulnerability of, or threat to, a system or network of a government or private entity, including information pertaining to the protection of a system or network from-
(A) efforts to degrade, disrupt, or destroy such system or network; or
(B) efforts to gain unauthorized access to a system or network, including efforts to gain such unauthorized access to steal or misappropriate private or government information.

The information gathered can be used to obtain information for five express purposes:

1. Cybersecurity
2. Investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crimes
3. Protection of individuals from the danger of death or physical injury
4. Protection of minors from physical or psychological harm
5. Protection of the national security of the United States

Essentially, CISPA makes it possible for private companies to share potential cyber threat information with the government if the government concludes it needs it for cyber security information (and vice versa) immediately, without a complicated process.

Why Technology Companies Are Supporting CISPA

The main reason companies are supporting CISPA is because it takes the pressure to regulate users off the private company (you can find a huge list of the key players and their positions over on ProPublica). CISPA transfers that role and responsibility over to a government entity. Effectively, it protects companies from being sued if they break their Terms of Service to hand over user information if it's deemed a threat to cyber security.

In Facebook's letter of support, Joel Kaplan, Vice President of U.S. Public Policy, puts the reason behind its support simply:

Your legislation removes burdensome rules that currently can inhibit protection of the cyber ecosystem, and helps provide a more established structure for sharing within the cyber community while still respecting the privacy rights and expectations of our users. Through timely sharing of threat information, both public and private entities will be able to more effectively combat malicious activity in cyberspace and protect consumers.

CISPA transfers the burdensome task of regulating its users content and activity to a government entity and this makes a company's job simple. For instance, if you were posting code snippets of a proposed cyber attack on your private Facebook page the government could request the information and Facebook would be able to hand over every piece of information they have on you immediately. However, this is an entirely voluntary step. If Facebook said no, the government agency asking for the information would have to find another means to get the information. From a company's perspective, CISPA is an opportunity to share information about potential cyber attacks with a branch of the government that could act on it.

On the surface it's not that horrible of a thing, but activists worry about the language used in the bill and how it could be construed in a variety of ways to violate a person's privacy.

Why Technology Rights Groups Are Worried About CISPA

Much like SOPA, the wording in CISPA is broad and the broadness is the root of many of the concerns. A number of activists and rights groups have spoken out against the bill, including Anonymous who reportedly took down trade websites USTelecom and TechAmerica's in retaliation for their support. The White House has also threatened to veto the bill if it passes. Digital rights group The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), issued a statement condemning CISPA's surveillance possibilities:

Hundreds of thousands of Internet users spoke out against this bill, and their numbers will only grow as we move this debate to the Senate. We will not stand idly by as the basic freedoms to read and speak online without the shadow of government surveillance are endangered by such overbroad legislative proposals.

The privacy implications of the broadly defined "cybersecurity threat" is the cause for concern among CISPA's opposition. It's feared the information gathered would be released too easily and would violate the Fourth Amendment because it offers a simple, warrantless means to acquire personal data.

Several other advocacy groups echo this sentiment, including the American Library Association, which has this to say:

The ALA is concerned that all private electronic communications could be obtained by the government and used for many purposes–and not just for cybersecurity activities. H.R.3523 would permit, and sometimes even require, Internet service providers and other entities to monitor all electronic communications and share personal information with the government without effective oversight by claiming the sharing is for "cybersecurity purposes."

CISPA could only be used if the government sees a cyber security danger in one of the five purposes mentioned in the first section above. Opponents to CISPA worry that those five reasons would still open the door to spying because they're broad enough to be applied to several different activities online.

It boils down to this: companies like Facebook and Microsoft are supporting CISPA because it's beneficial for them. The opposition is against it because it worries the bill could be used as a simple way to spy on people.

You can read the full text—including new amendments—of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence's website and track its amendment progress to see if the language is tightened up as it heads to the Senate. If you find yourself against CISPA, civic organization Avaaz has a petition and Demand Progress has set up links to contact your representative.

Photo by Leremy (Shutterstock).

You've got a lot of multimedia devices, which means probably you've got a mess of wires to deal with. TechNewsWorld offers solutions for managing that mess, even if you don't have the luxury of tearing into your walls to incorporate the cables.

One solution is to go wireless, of course, but ditching slow Wi-Fi and going completely wired is faster and more reliable, plus more secure.

Therefore, a good idea if you don't want to see wires everywhere, TechNewsWorld suggests, is to use the existing cavities in your home:

Search for hidden cavities and voids that you can use to run cabling if your home's multimedia wiring looks out-of-control. Check on top of kitchen cabinets, in closets, behind baseboards — all provide suitable space for Cat 5e.

Examine the routes plumbers have used for pipes. There's often enough room to stuff a cable. Central vacuum systems often have space between structure and vacuum pipe.

If your home has a retroactively installed central vacuum system, the designer will have already done the planning for you, because he will have run his system to the basement or garage via available voids. You can use those voids too.

Tip: Don't bend cables excessively. Cat 5e requires turns of no more than four times the diameter of the cable. Reckon on bending it no more than the size of a quarter.

Don't strip the cable to make it fit small spaces. The copper wire's twist within the outer jacket is part of the wire design.

The article also recommends avoiding cable ties and using electrical tape instead (as in the photo above), like the experts do.

For more tips and suggestions, check out the full article or share your own wire control advice with us in the comments.

Taming That Spaghetti of Wires Taking Over Your Home | TechNewsWorld

Photo by Tom Purves

The internet gives us all a platform to make our voices heard. That's incredibly powerful, but with that power comes responsibility. That's right, like any citizenship, your internet privileges carry with them responsibilities. "But I'm no troll," you say. That's not enough; there's more to being an upstanding citizen of the internet than just not trolling. Here's how to embrace the responsibilities of your citizenship and become a model internet citizen.

What Is an Internet Citizen?

Being a citizen of the internet, like being a citizen of any state, nation, or even member of a small group, carries with it rights, privileges, and responsibilities. As a user on the internet, most of us enjoy and cherish our rights of self-expression and the free flow of information provided to us. Still, being a citizen of the internet is just as much responsibility as it is a right. We're not entitled to our daily dose of LOLCats or time-wasting YouTube videos, and just because you have better things to do than troll people on Facebook or post flamebait in the comments of the blogs you read doesn't mean you shouldn't give something back to the very thing you take for granted. Here's how you can help make the internet a better place.

Photo via opensourceway.

Know Your Responsibilities: It's Your Job to Make the Internet a Better Place

The internet gives all of us the power to speak openly, and often under cover of anonymity, but with that power and freedom comes the responsibility to maintain it and make sure that the places we spend time in are the best they can possibly be. Think of it like your civic responsibility: people often say that you have no right to complain about a government unless you exercise your right to vote and change it when you have the opportunity. Real-world political issues aside, the same is true on the internet. There's a lot you can do to make sure the internet stays great:

• Contribute to Your Communities. Just like in the physical world, giving back to your community is a surefire way to make sure that the places you spend time are great places—and that they remain that way. Comment on the articles on your favorite blogs, forums, or communities. Engage them. Agreement is always nice and certainly welcome, but constructive and respectful feedback when you disagree is even better. After all, no one gets better when everyone agrees with them, and no one wants to get better when they're surrounded by trolls. Better still is when you bring you own ideas to the table as part of a bigger, broader discussion. We'll get into this a bit more later, but actually participating with your own opinions, alternatives, and perspectives—even when you agree—is the hallmark of a good internet citizen. When you dislike something on the internet, don't force others to separate your hate from your message—be positive and respectful, even when you disagree. When you disagree, make your points known, share your experiences that lead you to your perspective, and offer alternatives. When you agree or appreciate a piece, share your perspective and why you thought the piece was interesting, and even offer up a few ideas for further exploration or study based on your thoughts.
• Don't Fall for Negativity. The debate over whether the tone of the web is too negative has been going on since the web was born. Don't get sucked into it, and lead by example. If you're feeling jaded and unhappy with the way the comments on your favorite blog go, or the tone of political discussion on your favorite news sites, the best thing you can do is to adjust your own tone and be the change you want to see. (It may be a self-help cliché, but it's also good advice.) When you're confronted with that negativity directed towards you, well, you know what to do.
  Image via XKCD.
• Remember: Behind Every Keyboard Is a Person, a Lot like You. It goes without saying, but the easiest way for the internet to stay a great place—or even become a better place—is for us to remember that before we succumb to keyboard bravery we're dealing with real people, not just letters on a screen. To that end, conduct yourself like you would in real life. It's difficult, and even more difficult when we choose—as is our right in many places—to operate anonymously and privately, but when we do, it's even more important, lest that privacy be taken from us. To that point, try to respect the privacy of others and be forgiving of their mistakes. Not everyone has your experience, your qualifications, or your perspective. Don't be afraid to have your say, forcefully if necessary, but be mindful as well. Corollary: Remember The Golden Rule.
• Familiarize Yourself with Communities Before Engaging. We've mentioned how important it is to get involved and contribute, but your contributions will go farther if you're familiar with the community you want to join first. Get to know their rules; in some cases, it can help to lurk long enough to learn the in-group language and informal dos and don'ts. Remember, you're likely contributing in a private place, so before you complain that you're being "censored" or your "freedom of speech" has been violated, remember which of your rights apply where (namely, that the First Amendment only protects public speech, and comments on a blog or Facebook posts are anything but, even if most sites try to offer their users that same freedom. The more you learn, the more likely it'll be that you'll be able to contribute positively when you do start talking.
• Give Back the Easy Way. Some of the best ways to contribute and give back to the internet community as a whole are the easiest. Consider licensing your content via Creative Commons, embracing an open linking or citation policy, or making your next development project open source. You may already be working on a project that's easily open sourced, even if it's an endeavor you want to make money from at some point. You encourage people to use, credit, remix, and get involved with your work and your projects, and by doing so you give the community a gift that keeps on giving.
• Synthesize and Share Your Own Ideas. We mentioned this when we discussed how to read more conscientiously, but part of reading and absorbing information is using that information to build new ideas. When you're ready to really give back, set up shop and share your own ideas. Get on the other side of the table, and be a content creator instead of a consumer. By doing so, you encourage other creators to keep offering great videos, articles, and other media, and you also have the opportunity to add your own voice and your own ideas to the mix by sharing them with others. You don't have to start a blog to do this, although that's one way. Join a social network, start a Facebook Page, make your Pinterest account public. How you do it is up to you.

• 

  Be Aware of and Active on Issues that Pertain to the Internet

  FInally, there's one more responsibility that you shouldn't take lightly: make sure you're aware of and active on issues that pertain to the internet. Whether you're campaigning against legislation like SOPA and PIPA, which threaten the internet as we know it, researching ACTA, which many believe is a greater global threat to freedom on the internet than SOPA and PIPA, or you're speaking out in support of privacy advocates and legislation to protect privacy like California's Reader Privacy Act of 2011, it's important to keep your eyes open and stay engaged.

  There are plenty of organizations that work to preserve freedom of speech and expression on the internet and advocate for the privacy of its users, and they're eager to add your voice to their chorus. The internet is an always-changing, always-evolving entity. The real question is whether or not those changes are positive or negative from your perspective, and those changes are due to the will of its users, or the influence of organizations that represent specific interests. There are forces at work that spend their days lobbying governments around the world to mold the internet into a platform that suits their interests. Whether or not those interests align with yours is for you to research and decide.

  Image via Creative Commons.

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  This list of rules and guidelines to be a model citizen of the internet is by no means exhaustive, and isn't meant to be. Every community has different rules, every platform has different terms of service, and every citizen has their own rights—both real and perceived. The best thing for you to do if you want to be an upstanding citizen is to educate yourself on what rights you have with the services you use, give back as good as you get, be positive and upbeat, remember that the internet is a series of interconnected computer systems—largely manned by human beings, and get involved to protect the internet that you love and rely on every day.

  We've said a lot about how important it is to give back to the communities you love, so what are some of your rules for being a good citizen of the internet? What personal guidelines do you live by when you interact with people on the web, share your opinions, or discuss new ideas? Let's hear them in the comments below.

We've had a lot of discussion about SOPA and PIPA recently, the bills that want to cripple the internet, but there are still plenty of people who aren't clear on the issues. And although the bills have been shelved for now, similar threats (e.g., ACTA) loom and it's wise to stay informed of the issues at stake. This infographic lays SOPA's and PIPA's legal and technical technical details out pretty clearly.

The graphic from Lumin Consulting covers the main issues and arguments against these bills, including mis-labeling of sites and potential for abuse, based on sources such as Reddit's technical examination of SOPA and Protect IP. The nice thing about infographics is when they're done well, they're easy to scan and read, and this one, as Search Engine Journal notes, is something even non-technical people may understand. So if you know someone who is still unclear about these bills, pass it along. Here's the full image (click to expand and or right-click to save to disk):

A Technical Examination of SOPA and PIPA | Lumin Consulting via Search Engine Journal