“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.]
Oh, I forgot to add: 3 pages. You can do it, people! Let’s go!
IMPEACH AND EXPUNGE
@Rob
Didn’t Obama abstain from the vote that would of made them illegal? I’ve said this before and I will say it again, both the Republicans and the Democrats are destroying this country. The next time you have a chance to vote, please take a good long hard look at some of the independents out there.
Yeah we heard you the first time pr
“I’m an Obama supporter….”
Sucks to be you
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Seriously, as a supporter I have a question for you: How much more of this do you need to watch before you are no longer a supporter?
“”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. “
Not true:
http://tinyurl.com/chn4l
http://tinyurl.com/o3hz5
@Paul
“”I’m an Obama supporter….”
Sucks to be you
Seriously, as a supporter I have a question for you: How much more of this do you need to watch before you are no longer a supporter?”
I used to ask the same thing about Bush supporters. I found out there is no bottom.
Obama and his Democratic cronies have an obsession with pulling the plug. First, it’s grandma’s ventilator in the nursing home then its little Jimmy’s PC in the living room. Pretty soon the only “safe” place to be is somewhere off the grid entirely.
Wow,
Check out the comments on this on Fox news.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/28/senate-president-emergency-control-internet/comments/
Right Wing America is ready to start a civil war because they lost an Election, and openly calling for people to load up and take this guy out. I guess a big part of America just can’t stand the idea of having a Black President
“Those wiretaps were only on for calls to foreign numbers previously identified as having terrorist connections. “
Crap.
My wife is German, legal, green carded immigrant, been here thirty years. Every damn time she called her sister or mother, they could HEAR the connections being made, when people were listening. It got to be a joke to them, and they’d literally say “hello” to the listeners, just to “be nice”.
The rules may have been there, but the law, and procedures that should have been in place to oversee the wiretapping to be sure it as done right, were not put in place, and it did become indiscriminate.
I, too have supported Obama, but not blindly, and I do NOT like this bill. Way too much authority over something that is essentially a public utility.
Would you like the White House to be able to cut off your electricity if we came under attack? For how long?
If you interrupt the Internet it affects trade for the world, not just America. What gives the US gov the right to do that?
“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”
Sounds like the rationalizations that Lincoln used when he violated the first amendment by clamping down on the telegraphs and newspapers. It was bullshit then, and it’s bullshit now.
-jcr
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.
I’m absolutely stunned by your stupidity.
Maybe it’s ok if we just wiretap black people whose names start with the letter “S” and who have green eyes? That probably only affects few thousand people. You’re probably not one of them, so yeah that’s cool.
Seriously, do you have even a sliver of an understanding of the Constitution of the United States?
The comments that I read were from honest, hard-working citizens who oppose Obama’s hard left agenda and insatiable maniacal power mongering. Only an irrational, biased, and intolerant person as yourself would characterize decent citizens as racist.
You have no clue of the heritage any of the commenters, thus proving that you are as ignorant as you are bigoted.
Current wire tapping technology is so sophisticated that no one can hear someone listening to their conversations. You are completely ignorant and probably paranoid.
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.
Wow. The amount of sheer idiocy in your statement completely floored me. Let’s recap:
1) Our country experienced the worst terrorist attack in its history under George W. Bush’s regime. So no, Bush did not keep us safe.
2) We have experienced zero terrorist attacks under President Barack Obama. Thus, he has succeeded brilliantly in keeping us safe.
3) We had a budget surplus when George W. Bush took over office. When he left, we had an enormous budget deficit. So in reality, George W. Bush was the one who made us “go broke.” (Oh, and by the way, our economy underwent catastrophic meltdown as well).
4) Barack Hussein Obama III was born in Hawaii and is thus an American citizen. In fact, he’s president of the United States of America in case you hadn’t noticed. So when you say “He aint american no way,” you’re actually 100% wrong.
The Obamanable the Anti-Christ? No just an idiot on the left, who wants to “fix” the world.
U guys get what u deserve!
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Benjamin Franklin
“Oh, and by the way, our economy underwent catastrophic meltdown as well”
…which was caused by the Liberals in Washington and the ACLU and ilk, that threatened the banks with lawsuits if they don’t loan into the black gettos, where people could not afford to buy a home.
That’s where your meltdown is from!
(MDN Magic Word = congress)
Wire tapping is legal, so what’s your point?
Investigating suspects is a legitimate police activity, so what’s your point?
“Probable cause” is established by the constitution, so what’s your point?
So how does a single man having control over mass communication fit into your definition of the constitution, hmmm?
I never mentioned “geen eyes”, “black persons” or persons whose names began with “S”. Seems that you are more stoopid than you think, sparky. I certainly think that you are certainly more stoopid than you think.
Heard about the “Fairness Doctrine” coming your way… check it out…
the first thing the Commies do is abolish free speech.
Without reading the bill, it sounds as though this will only set up an infrastructure that will make it easy to do control the Internet (and computers & everything else). “Permission” to do it is not essential since a president can declare martial law and then basically do whatever he wants. I do agree with pr that we don’t have all the facts yet and that there may be some imaginable nationwide emergency that might call for some action. On the other hand, I do not like this at all as described. MDN is right that it doesn’t matter who has the power at the moment. Even if we trust who we have now (and many don’t), the next one may be entirely different.
We have already lost too many freedoms. As for privacy (supposedly guaranteed in the 9th & 10th amendments and in many state constitutions), we have yet to have it AT ALL. That is really the core of what is at work here. If we don’t address the privacy issue (and few are), the rest of this won’t matter much since we have no protection anywhere else anyway.
“Liberty once again must become more important to us than the desire for security and material comfort. Personal safety and economic prosperity can only come as the consequence of liberty. They cannot be provided by an authoritarian government…”
Ron Paul
Wire tapping is legal, so what’s your point?
Um.. except when you don’t have a warrant. In that case it violates federal law and is unconstitutional. That’s what George W. Bush was doing. But I apologize for trying to insert facts into your fantasy world.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5665192
I never mentioned “geen eyes”, “black persons” or persons whose names began with “S”. Seems that you are more stoopid than you think, sparky.
Yikes. Even my attempt at a remedial analogy went right over your head. I’d pray for you, but I don’t believe in God.
Answer the question please without any partisan positioning
Let’s say the Chinese or North Koreans or Russians or SMERSH launch a massive cyber attack on U.S. computer infrastructure.
A DDOS on 50 or more high level domains. It takes down our ability to conduct electronic commerce, or even exchange email. No preparations have been made to coordinate a response or provide any kind of integrated repair procedure. The systems are down for days, even weeks. Who ya gonna call?