Mozilla officially opposes CISPA, but where's Google?

Google's homepage during the day of action against SOPA and PIPA Remember that image? That was how the very bad Stop Online Piracy Act, the bill that threatened the very existence of sites like Daily Kos and any other site with user-generated content, was stopped in its tracks. Google, Wikipedia, Facebook and many, many other internet sites and companies'along with millions of citizens'protested the bill and killed it.

Another very real and similar threat to the internet and all its users exists right now in the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), passed by the House last week. Purported to be a bill to enhance the security of the nation's critical infrastructure, it's really an attack on any American citizen who uses the internet for about any purpose. Any company doing business on the internet could share your private information with other companies and the government, with no privacy protections because this bill would trump every other privacy law in existence, state and federal. The privacy problems with this bill caused Microsoft to step back and take another look at the bill.

Most recently, Mozilla decided to actively oppose the bill, making it the first Silicon Valley company to stand up for its customers and users. Here's its statement:

While we wholeheartedly support a more secure Internet, CISPA has a broad and alarming reach that goes far beyond Internet security. The bill infringes on our privacy, includes vague definitions of cybersecurity, and grants immunities to companies and government that are too broad around information misuse. We hope the Senate takes the time to fully and openly consider these issues with stakeholder input before moving forward with this legislation.

Which brings us to the question: where's the rest of Silicon Valley, and most importantly, where's Google? The short answer is they aren't saying. They lobbied behind closed doors on the House bill, but wouldn't release a statement clarifying what they were lobbying either for or against. Now that it's passed the House, they're still not saying.

If we're going to stop CISPA, like we stopped SOPA, it's going to take companies like Google joining Mozilla in making the privacy rights of users, of American citizens, paramount. It's the least they could do for their loyal users and customers who've made them the success they are.

Tell Google "don't be evil," and to protect our privacy by opposing CISPA in the Senate.