Bill Allows Obama Power to Shut Down Internet

[The Straight Story]

Bill Allows Obama Power to Shut Down Internet

The President of the United States is said by some to be the most powerful man in the world -- but should he have control of the spread of information.

ZoomA legislation proposed on April 1 is no joke. The proposed bill would grant President Obama the authority to shut down public and private networks -- including the restriction of internet traffic -- as part of a cybersecurity emergency plan.

The bill was introduced by West Virginia Democratic Sen. John Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine. The aim of the bill is to unite both public and private network operators to develop regulations for what to do in case of a cyber attack.

For obvious reasons, many are concerned about what such power could mean if the wrong actions were taken. Leslie Harris, president and CEO at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), said in a NetworkWorld story, “This is pretty sweeping legislation. Seems the President could turn off the Internet completely or tell someone like Verizon to limit or block certain traffic. There is a lot to worry about in this bill.”

While the public sector may be used to more government regulation and involvement, such control will undoubtedly bother corporations. CDT’s Harris added that regulatory rules could force companies to all conform to a similar system, which could hamper security and innovation. For example, if a critical security flaw was found in a mandated system, then the entire network could be susceptible to such a flaw.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/obama-shut-down-internet-legislation,7478.html

He won't shut down the net, just FR :)

[Alexander]

1. Would we want the next Republican President to have this power?

[FiveGoodMen]

2. I don't want this or any president to have such power.

[The Straight Story]

6. Me either (nt)

[EFerrari]

3. This is a terrible idea. And like most terrible ideas that

threaten our civil liberties, it's brought to us in the name of security.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Protecting our freedoms by denying them. A P.T. Barnum version of "security".

:hi:

[EFerrari]

14. "There's a sucker born every minute."

You bet. :hi:

[csziggy]

23. Barnum did not say that - a competitor, David Hannum, did.

http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html

[GinaMaria]

4. Nooooooo!!! Not the Internet

the last refuge of equality, democracy and the first amendment! Well, maybe not the last but still....

[aquart]

5. NO. I'm not big on expanding presidential power.

Particularly when we have lost the power to impeach on any grounds whatsoever.

[Echo In Light]

7. And especially considering how "cybersecurity emergency plan" sounds like complete BS.

[The Straight Story]

8. If everyone wore a condom while posting we wouldn't have to worry about it

:)

[Echo In Light]

11. Barebacking is so much funner, tho

[MindPilot]

9. Go regulate something that needs regulating

Like banks, insurance companies and the coal industry.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

10. Wouldn't it just be 'Bill would give president the authority to shut down the internet"? Did Obama

have anything to do with the introduction of the bill? The article doesn't seem to suggest so.

[The Straight Story]

13. Hell if I know, I don't read the shit I just post it

:rofl:

But yeah, it sounds like something he didn't ask for directly.

[babylonsister]

15. ROFL!

:rofl:

[walldude]

16. The bill came with a bag of corks

so they could stuff em' in all those tubes and pipelines. That'll kill the internets for sure.

[walkaway]

17. Will he block pop-ups too? n/t

[Oregone]

18. Revise this bill to allow the president to just shut down Twitter

Please oh please.

[Solon]

19. This will just accellerate the offshoring of servers overseas, where the President's...

authority wouldn't reach. If the bill passed, he could, theoretically, shut down Americans' access to those servers by shutting down ISPs, but the Internet itself will be just fine outside America's borders.

[Uncle Joe]

20. On the face of it, this bill seems like a violation of the First Amendment. n/t

[scheming daemons]

21. This is an April Fool's joke story... not real.

Jeesus, you people are gullible.

[The Straight Story]

25. So the bill on thomas.loc.gov and the press release on Rockefeller's site are bogus too?

S.773
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/Cyberbillsummaryonepagerplusthreepagesummarypressrelease1Apr090.pdf

http://rockefeller.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=311060&

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:4:./temp/~bdghOs::|/bss/111search.html|

Been searching for whether or not you are correct, was hoping you were, but have not found anything to back it up yet.

[rcrush]

22. Hmmm

"The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would, for example, give the President unfettered power to shut down Internet traffic in emergencies or disconnect any critical infrastructure system or network on national security grounds. The bill would grant the Commerce Department the ability to override all privacy laws to access any information about Internet usage in connection with a new role in tracking cybersecurity threats. The bill, introduced by Sens. John Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe, would also give the government unprecedented control over computer software and Internet services, threatening innovation, freedom and privacy. CDT President and CEO Leslie Harris said, "The cybersecurity threat is real, but such a drastic federal intervention in private communications technology and networks could harm both security and privacy." April 01, 2009
http://www.cdt.org/headlines/1196


"But the provision that is attracting the most attention is buried deep in the 51-page bill, in a section blandly titled "Cybersecurity Responsibility and Authority." It would give the president broad authority to directly intervene in security matters in both the public and private sectors. For starters, the bill would give the president the power to declare security emergencies and then curtail or shut down Internet traffic to and from any compromised federal or critical infrastructure networks.

"The measure would also enable the White House to order individual government or critical private-sector networks to be disconnected from the Internet for reasons of national security. In addition, the president could classify any corporate network as a piece of critical infrastructure."

"The presidential-powers provision makes the proposed legislation "a sweeping federal takeover of cybersecurity" responsibilities, said Leslie Harris, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a Washington-based think tank and lobbying group. If the bill is signed into law as written, it would give the executive office "unfettered discretion" to exert control over private-sector networks on national security grounds, Harris claimed."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=...


"The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 introduced in the Senate would allow the president to shut down private Internet networks. The legislation also calls for the government to have the authority to demand security data from private networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access."
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Bill-Grants-President... /

[csziggy]

24. I thought this was something Bush gave himself the power to do?

But here is Rockefeller's press release on the bill:

CHAIRMAN ROCKEFELLER AND SENATOR SNOWE INTRODUCE COMPREHENSIVE CYBERSECURITY LEGISLATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) today announced the introduction of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation to address our nation’s vulnerability to cyber crime, global cyber espionage, and cyber attacks that could potentially cripple the United States’ critical infrastructure.

Currently, the U.S. has systems in place to protect our nation’s secrets and our government networks against cyber espionage, and it is imperative that those cyber defenses keep up with our enemies’ cyber capabilities. However, another great vulnerability our country faces is the threat to our private sector critical infrastructure–banking, utilities, air/rail/auto traffic control, telecommunications–from disruptive cyber attacks that could literally shut down our way of life.

<SNIP>

KEY PROVISIONS OF COMPREHENSIVE CYBERSECURITY LEGISLATION:


· Significantly raising the profile of cybersecurity within the Federal government and streamlining cyber-related government functions and authorities.

· Promoting public awareness and protecting civil liberties.

· Remaking the relationship between government and the private sector on cybersecurity.

· Fostering innovation and creativity in cybersecurity to develop long-term solutions.

An important component of this legislation is to establish the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor within the Executive Office of the President. The National Cybersecurity Advisor will lead this office and report directly to the President. The Advisor will serve as the lead official on all cyber matters, coordinating with the intelligence community, as well as the civilian agencies.

http://rockefeller.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=311060&

It looks as though the main focus is to make sure that some effort to protect vital internet resources are protected. I suspect any provision to allow the President to take over the internet is intended to be used in case of national emergency, same as mobilizing the National Guard and other resources for other emergencies.

I'd class this with "Obama is gonna take away our guns!"

[PeaceNikki]

26. The REALLY scary part is the new powers of the Commerce Secretary:

the Secretary will be given “access to all relevant data concerning networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access.”

What. The. Fuck?