“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,” McCullagh reports. “CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773, which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.”
McCullagh reports, “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.”
McCullagh reports, “Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to ‘direct the national response to the cyber threat’ if necessary for ‘the national defense and security.’ The White House is supposed to engage in ‘periodic mapping’ of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies ‘shall share’ requested information with the federal government. (‘Cyber’ is defined as anything having to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks.)”
McCullagh reports, “If your company is deemed ‘critical,’ a new set of regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hoo boy. Remove the politics by simply plugging in whomever you consider to be the worst U.S. president (past, present, or future) and imagine him/her with an Internet kill switch. Suffice it to say, we cannot adequately express in words how vehemently opposed we are to the concept of this bill.
One additional note: Please take a look at the “Related articles” below. U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Windows is vulnerable to attack, two weeks after awarding their department’s enterprise agreement to Microsoft which they admitted they did due to a combination of laziness and cheapness. Subsequently and inevitably, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s border screening system then crashes due to Microsoft’s Windows vulnerability to attack – as predicted by, yes, you guessed it, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Later, their computers are infiltrated multiple times via Microsoft software flaws. This is but one example. The lists of idiocy and inefficiency in government departments, practices, and programs are endless.
Regardless of the party in power, government is inherently inept.*
*Excluding the U.S. military (not including military procurement; i.e. $640 toilet seats, which, of course, only serves to further illustrate our point).
[UPDATE: August 30, 2009, 5:11pm EDT: Added U.S. military exemption note in reponse to certain readers’ feedback below.]
Wow. pretty soon they’ll shut anyone down who talks bad about Obama. 1984 is coming a few years late.
I’m an Obama supporter, and I oppose this bill.
Hmm… The fundamental concept is sound. It is similar to emergency powers available to the government to contain outbreaks of communicable diseases. No doubt this implementation is severely broken and massively overreaches.
Are you wingnuts equally as outraged about George W. Bush illegally wiretapping you?
This guy is a hardcore Marxist. Wake up America before it is too late.
MDN is absolutely correct:
Take your pick:
– Imagine G.W. Bush with this power.
– Imagine Obama with it.
– Imagine Reagan with it.
– Imagine Clinton with it.
Don’t like what the bloggers or mainstream media are saying? Flick the switch.
Imagine if Clinton had the power to pull the plug on the ‘Net when Drudge broke the Lewinsky story!
Sheesh, this is too horrible for words.
Figures a Democrat wrote it.
West Virginia must have banned Orwell’s “1984” way back when.
No doubt an “emergency” is any digitally constructed and disseminated message big brother does not approve. The next step is ridding the nation of that pesky free press and free expression nonsense. Who needs independent thought when the government is more than willing to enforce the party line?
Hey Rob at least Bush kept us safe. This boy shooting hoops in the oval office aint doing nothing but making us go broke. He aint american no way.
Not having read the actual bill….and…understanding that NO bill EVER emerges as LAW without serious modifications…the spirit of the idea is reasonably sound. Who would you trust to protect our national cyber infrastructure should a massive attack of some kind come from a malevolent source? The companies themselves? AOL? Comcast? Microsoft? Network Solutions?
The idea of a sort of “internet martial law” actually has SOME merit if it serves to protect an undeniably vital form of communication for both government and business. We can’t possibly know the kind or level of attacks that the future might hold so…I think blind opposition is foolish. Any bill of this type, BEFORE it becomes law will need to pass muster with a wide array of technology companies. If the experts in those companies are persuaded that both the intent and real function of the law is to ably protect a vital national resource then I’m ok with it. Aren’t you?
Wow, these commenters have ZERO class.
I just can’t imagine what Franklin Pierce would have done with this kind of power… Damn Liberal.
NO…fscken way…call your congressmen NOW!!!
Also tell then to STOP Cap&Trade;!!!
The money you save will be your own!!!
Wow. Looks like the White House really is going down the tubes…..
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Stealing yer internets, freedoms, and rights all for yer own protection.
“Are you wingnuts equally as outraged about George W. Bush illegally wiretapping you?”
Those wiretaps were only on for calls to foreign numbers previously identified as having terrorist connections.
I was not comfortable with anything more than that, and I am much less comfortable with the present occupant of the White House having the power to go FAR beyond that. Comparing Bush to Obama in that regard, I am also much more uncomfortable with the latter as opposed to the former.
I wouldn’t trust anyone in power with this authority, much less the current resident of the White House. I’ve been around more than a few decades and I’ve never witnessed a concentration of power like I’m now seeing it. More than 30 unaccountable czars (never had to go through confirmation); sector after sector of the economy subject to political influence; US Census now to be run out of the White House; and now this.
Enough already…,the patriot act and now this? Democrats…,Republicans…,they both suck.
No president should have this power. It tangles authority with interest. But having the power doesn’t mean the power is useful. Staying with Journo’s example, if Clinton had pulled the plug on the internet to kill the Lewinsky story, it would have caused a lot more trouble for him than the Lewinsky story did. (Yes, that is possible.) There are many examples from many countries of politicians who made much more trouble for themselves trying to suppress negative information than the negative information would have caused.
In the event of crisis level infection due to simple maliciousness, criminal activity, or directed attack against the country’s infrastructure, it is useful to be able to quarantine sources of infection or critical systems regardless of ownership. The authority to trigger quarantine actions should be vested in an independent agency whose sole purpose is to monitor for crisis level threats and respond. Any use of the quarantine powers should trigger an automatic review of the agency’s actions. Similar to a board of inquiry whenever a plane crashes or a ship is lost.
The big difference is that wire tapping you allude to affected perhaps a few thousand likely suspects whereas the Democratic sponsored legislation would affect EVERY FREAKING PERSON IN THE WHOLE FREAKING NATION.
Do you think that Rockefeller just out of the blue came up with this idea? Not in your life. This is straight out Emperor Obama’s circle of Marxist advisors. Control the people you gotta control the media.
Those of you that voted for him should be ashamed. Hope you like your change.
I don’t think that will work. Won’t Congress and Obama need Microsoft Permission to control the Internet?
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I repeat
<u>Not having read the actual bill</u>….
and…understanding that NO bill EVER emerges as LAW without serious modifications…the spirit of the idea is reasonably sound. Who would you trust to protect our national cyber infrastructure should a massive attack of some kind come from a malevolent source? The companies themselves? AOL? Comcast? Microsoft? Network Solutions?
The idea of a sort of “internet martial law” actually has SOME merit if it serves to protect an undeniably vital form of communication for both government and business. We can’t possibly know the kind or level of attacks that the future might hold so…I think blind opposition is foolish. Any bill of this type, BEFORE it becomes law will need to pass muster with a wide array of technology companies. If the experts in those companies are persuaded that both the intent and real function of the law is to ably protect a vital national resource then I’m ok with it. Aren’t you?
…and despite the MDN take please note the overwhelming majority of posters are morons who go straight to party bashing.
The best part is that almost all of you are wrong in one or more of your “facts.” This is why America will fall. Ignorance by the electorate.
….and damn it debunking all your stupidity is too time consuming AND you won’t listen. I swear some days it isn’t worth chewing through the restraints.
Do people really wonder why the Obama Administration is perceived as opportunistically cramming government down our throats?
It seems to me the Government needs to bring in real technologists, not political cronies, to assess where the security weaknesses are in the Government’s infrastructure. This needs to be done before yet another poorly thought out piece of crap gets turned into law.
I don’t want the Federal Government having ANY sweeping control over the Internet whatsoever. They are incompetent and are proving they have absolutely no concept of how to break a problem down to address it.
Seems the solution to every problem, as far as President Obama is concerned is another government agency, another government power grab, more taxes, and incomprehensibly vague legislation.
As usual, it’s amateur hour at the White House.
As far as I’m concerned, hands off our Internet. Fix your own problems, leave the private infrastructure alone.
What does this have to do with the Mac or Apple?
Leave politics to other blogs and don’t ruin this one.