The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, feared by some as a threat to online freedoms, has a social media marketing campaign.
@HouseIntelComm, which started posting Wednesday, claims to be “the new Twitter account for the House Intelligence Committee.” Its tweets so far have been almost exclusively arguments supporting CISPA.
The account—which is as yet unverified—barely has 500 followers. Fourteen of those are verified accounts belonging to members of Congress, including CISPA co-founders Dutch Ruppersberger and Mike Rogers. Darrell Issa (R-Ca.) also follows the account. Issa is the self-proclaimed “Defender of the Internet” who rose to prominence in the Internet rights debate when he let himself be interviewed by Reddit in March.
Six other CISPA supporters in Congress, representing both parties, follow @HouseIntelComm, as do six Republican members who don’t support the bill. So far, CISPA has 25 Democratic and 81 Republican co-sponsors.
@HouseIntelComm’s tweets insist CISPA is both necessary for national security and will not reduce Internet freedom, as many have feared.
The bill “includes provisions to ensure info can’t be shared with the govt or used under this bill unless there’s a direct tie to cybersecurity,” the account posted. It also retweeted a news article titled “CISPA Cybersecurity Bill Authors: ‘This Isn’t SOPA’”
So far, though, most Twitter users aren’t interested in what @HouseIntelComm has to say. Almost all Twitter activity directed toward the account is critical, reflecting CISPA’s drastic unpopularity.
“@HouseIntelComm This is not the 1950s , we are the generation with common sense. #LOL” tweeted @mannyghosting.
“don’t believe that @HouseIntelComm has fully read nor do they fully understand #CISPA.
Protect privacy? How? By letting ISPs spy on us?” asked @NarinedariaI.
“Does @HouseIntelComm really think that the US citizens are that ignorant?” wrote @wighar.
Photo via Quickmeme
