Friday - August 28, 2009

Bill would give president emergency control of Internet

CNet News

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They’re not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

The new version would allow the president to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” relating to “non-governmental” computer networks and do what’s necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for “cybersecurity professionals,” and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

“I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness,” said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, which counts representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board. “It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill.”

Representatives of other large Internet and telecommunications companies expressed concerns about the bill in a teleconference with Rockefeller’s aides this week, but were not immediately available for interviews on Thursday.

A spokesman for Rockefeller also declined to comment on the record Thursday, saying that many people were unavailable because of the summer recess. A Senate source familiar with the bill compared the president’s power to take control of portions of the Internet to what President Bush did when grounding all aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001. The source said that one primary concern was the electrical grid, and what would happen if it were attacked from a broadband connection.

When Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the original bill in April, they claimed it was vital to protect national cybersecurity. “We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs--from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records,” Rockefeller said.

Hello one, hello all, going to jump right into the fray again, I’ve been away for FAR too long, sorry guys/gals.
It’s been clicking right along here in the Severa household. Kids started back to school this week.
Our youngest son turns 10 next week and our oldest son turns 13 (YIKES!) in January. Time flies when you’re having fun....
or not having fun, as the case has been since Obama was elected.
Now I’ll freely admit, I’m young (32) and somewhat new to politics (Reagan is the first President I can remember and I bawled like a baby during his funeral) but I swear on everything that’s holy (and a few things that aren’t) that I have NEVER been so scared of a President and his Administration as I am right now.
Every day it’s something new to add to the stack of stuff against Obama and his followers but it’s like America is asleep at the wheel of a speeding Corvette and that “bridge out ahead” sign is looming up awfully damned fast…

Posted by Severa     on 08/28/2009 at 07:27 PM   
Filed Under: • Nanny State • Politics •  
• Comments (9) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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