Facebook reverses course, withdraws support from CISPA

Privacy advocates fighting against CISPA, the House bill that would give private companies complete immunity in sharing any and all of their customers' private data with the military and intelligence, have scored a critical win. Facebook, an early and much ballyhooed supporter of the bill has withdrawn its support after being pressured by activists, including a Demand Progress campaign directed at CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Now Facebook is no longer listed among the bill's corporate supporters, and the company provided this statement to CNET:

We are encouraged by the continued attention of Congress to this important issue and we look forward to working with both the House and the Senate to find a legislative balance that promotes government sharing of cyberthreat information with the private sector while also ensuring the privacy of our users.

That makes two heavyweights in the tech sphere opposing this version of the legislation'Microsoft has also withdrawn support from the bill because of consumer privacy concerns. Having these big technology firms in the fight for privacy is critical. They were staunch allies in killing the horrible Stop Online Piracy (SOPA) legislation, which would have allowed copyright owners to essentially shut down web sites they say violated copyright. Just like with SOPA, these big companies can help kill this bad CISPA bill.

But Congress has to listen to us, too. Email your member of Congress and tell them to scrap CISPA.