Congress overwhelmingly voted for the Patriot Act nearly 16 years ago, and our civil liberties have never been the same since. As if this singular bill, passed by George W. Bush, wasn't invasive enough, allowing big banks to demand our internet data, and more — the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) makes cyber-spying by the shadow government and the financial entities controlling it, a forgone conclusion.

As with most shadow government legislation, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is packed with hidden surveillance allowances. CISA was quietly passed to allow government to demand that private companies hand over personal information to them at will. It also allows companies to mine data, under the auspices of government-created urgency.

The mere fact that this act passed in late 2015 is monumental, since it has been before Congress in different forms for over a decade. The election seems to have offered the perfect cover, as Americans and activists were too busy arguing over Trump vs. Hillary.

Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government relations at the Electronic Transactions Association believes the value of sharing our personal data as a means to be alerted of 'cyber threats' outweighs any hazard to our civil liberties. Talbott states,