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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

'Tis the season to celebrate with good friends [theintercept.com]:

The night before Congress passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, a broad expansion of surveillance power in America, legislators attended a party with the chief lobbyists for the bill.

Last Thursday, Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), along with a number of other lawmakers, went [politico.com] to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's famously lavish Christmas party [instagram.com].

The next morning, on December 18, the senators voted [senate.gov] to pass the omnibus spending bill that included a version of CISA that guts privacy protections and creates new channels for both government agencies and private businesses to share information with the National Security Agency and law enforcement agencies.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents dozens of Fortune 500 companies and serves as the biggest lobby group in Washington, acted as the chief private sector advocate for CISA. Congressional records show the group's lobbyists testified in both the House and Senate on behalf of the bill, and helped corral a number of other trade associations to build support for its passage.

[...] At a summit to help pass CISA last year, Ann Beauchesne, the Chamber's lead CISA lobbyist, got up and asked NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers how the Chamber of Commerce could "be helpful to you?" She pledged a renewed lobbying effort even — as The Intercept previously noted [theintercept.com] — suggesting a viral marketing campaign to build public support akin to the "ALS ice bucket challenge."

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