Stop CISPA (Bill HR 3523)!

This bill basically allows Congress the right to listen in on your most private and personal communications online, communications like Facebook, Twitter, texting, and your email.

Congress is currently considering CISPA – the Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act – a bill that purports to protect the United States from “cyber threats” but would in fact create a gaping loophole in all existing privacy laws. If CISPA passes, companies could vacuum up huge swaths of data on everyday Internet users and share it with the government without a court order. I oppose CISPA, and I’m calling on Congress to reject any legislation that:

* Uses dangerously vague language to define the breadth of data that can be shared with the government.
* Hands the reins of America’s cybersecurity defenses to the NSA, an agency with no transparency and little accountability.
* Allows data shared with the government to be used for purposes unrelated to cybersecurity.

Join me in opposing this bill by posting this statement on your own page and using this online form to send a letter to Congress against CISPA:

Here is the link.

Black Unmarked Police Vehicles

On 4-2-12 or 4-3-12, I was visiting a neighbor in entrance 262-GD here at Villagebrook Apartments in Carol Stream. Someone blew their car horn. My neighbor looked out of her apartment window and saw that it was her daughter blowing the car horn for her to come outside. My neighbor went outside to talk to her daughter. After talking with her daughter for about 5-10 minutes she came back inside the apartment where I was waiting for her. She told me about how a police officer questioned her while she was talking to her daughter. He asked her for her name and where she lived. She gave her name and pointed out her apartment window to him. She said he ran her information through his computer system in the police car.

Then she went to her apartment window to look and see if they were still out there. They were sitting outside her apartment entrance. She called me to the window to show me. So I walked over to where she was and I looked out the window. I saw two black police vehicles with tinted windows. I could not see anyone sitting inside the vehicles. The car windows were too dark. One vehicle which looked like it could have been a BMW was parked in the parking lot a distance away from the entrance. It had it's park lights on and was facing her apartment window. The other vehicle looked like it might have been an SUV or a Blazer. It had the words Carol Stream Police written on it's side and it had no lights on not even park lights with the exception of the blue light coming from the inside of the car.

They sat there for a while. I began to feel a little uncomfortable so I told my neighbor that I was heading back to my apartment. Then I left. This is not the first time I noticed black unmarked police vehicles in the area. I have seen them before on several occasions zooming through the driveway here at Villagebrook Apts. They circle the perimeter like they are patrolling this particular area. I know they are police vehicles because I could see a blue light coming from the inside console of the vehicles. Their presence makes me feel afraid. It is very unnerving.