Cybersecurity Act would give president power to 'shut down' Internet

SoulManX

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A recently proposed but little-noticed Senate bill would allow the federal government to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration.

The bill's draft states that "the president may order a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic" and would give the government ongoing access to "all relevant data concerning (critical infrastructure) networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access."

Authored by Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 seeks to create a Cybersecurity Czar to centralize power now held by the Pentagon, National Security Agency, Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security.

While the White House has not officially endorsed the draft, it did have a hand in its language, according to The Washington Post.

Proponents of the measure stress the need to centralize cybersecurity of the private sector. "People say this is a military or intelligence concern," says Rockefeller, "but it is a lot more than that. It suddenly gets into the realm of traffic lights and rail networks and water and electricity."

Snowe added, "America's vulnerability to massive cyber-crime, global cyber-espionage and cyber-attacks has emerged as one of the most urgent national security problems facing our country today. Importantly, this legislation loosely parallels the recommendations in the CSIS [Center for Strategic and International Studies] blue-ribbon panel report to President Obama and has been embraced by a number of industry and government thought leaders."

Critics decry the broad language, and are watchful for amendments to the bill seeking to refine the provisions. According to opencongress.com, no amendments to the draft have been submitted.

Organizations like the Center for Democracy and Technology fear if passed in its current form, the proposal leaves too much discretion of just what defines critical infrastructure. The bill would also impose mandates for designated private networks and systems, including standardized security software, testing, licensing and certification of cyber-security professionals.

"I'd be very surprised if it doesn't include communications systems, which are certainly critical infrastructure," CDT General Counsel Greg Nojeim told eWEEK. "The president would decide not only what is critical infrastructure but also what is an emergency."

Adds Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, "Essentially, the Act would federalize critical infrastructure security. Since many systems (banks, telecommunications, energy)are in the hands of the private sector, the bill would create a major shift of power away from users and companies to the federal government."


http://digg.com/d1ocDe
 
Anybody think we'd see a rise in teenage suicides that day due to the internet being shut down?
 
Yes.

A 76% rise in male (age 15 to 45) suicides.

Due to the lack of access to porn.
 
There is a lot of people on this site that don't remember porn before internet. They might go crazy.
 
Instead of disconnecting the public internet, how about we put our infrastructure systems on an entirely separate network? That's what should have been done in the first place. On the other hand there is still a risk; I once went to a water control facility using windows98 to run their system monitoring and control software. The password for their "screen saver" was the letter "a."

I'm not joking either.
 
Instead of disconnecting the public internet, how about we put our infrastructure systems on an entirely separate network? That's what should have been done in the first place. On the other hand there is still a risk; I once went to a water control facility using windows98 to run their system monitoring and control software. The password for their "screen saver" was the letter "a."

I'm not joking either.

No words:o
 
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And tin-foiled conspiracy theorists and horny teenagers cry out in fear--and for a fairly good reason.
 
This is ****ing ridiculous. I hope the /b/tards find out about this and take immediate action.
 
strange....I reported this a few weeks ago and noone posted ;)
 
I thought you did, but I wasn't sure becuase of all the Computer gobbledgoop. I didn't know if it was the same thing or not.
 
Reason?

No mention of porn.

If you hint at the possibility of taking away the people's porn...they will rise.

uh..waitaminute..
 
Does no one find this troubling? The federal government has vastly been expanding its power. Between czars being appointed to oversee basically every private industry, to their seeking the ability to control the means of communication and information. This is bothersome.
 
I do, I do find problems in this. But, it is much harder to fight something most people can't comprehend.
 
I wonder how long it will be until President Obama decides to use these emergency powers he is putting in place which would give him control over nearly ever facet of our lives.

obamaPalpatine3.jpg
 
I wonder how long it will be until President Obama decides to use these emergency powers he is putting in place which would give him control over nearly ever facet of our lives.

obamaPalpatine3.jpg

:csad:
 
I always felt bad for the sith, outnumbered by a bunch of self important jedi's that were always telling you you weren't nice enough. The Emp had a simple man's desires and dreams, he just wanted to electrocute those hippies with magic finger lightning. What's so wrong in that? Plus they had that budget in good enough order to build a working death star underbudget. ****ing jedi.

But on a serious note, I've been worried about the expansion of gov. controls on privacy for the last ten years now. This is just another ******** step, and I can't wait till we get those GPS devices shoved up our asses in the next couple of years.
 
I always felt bad for the sith, outnumbered by a bunch of self important jedi's that were always telling you you weren't nice enough. The Emp had a simple man's desires and dreams, he just wanted to electrocute those hippies with magic finger lightning. What's so wrong in that? Plus they had that budget in good enough order to build a working death star underbudget. ****ing jedi.

In other words Palpatine is the Richard Nixon of a long time ago in a galaxy far far away?

But on a serious note, I've been worried about the expansion of gov. controls on privacy for the last ten years now. This is just another ******** step, and I can't wait till we get those GPS devices shoved up our asses in the next couple of years.

Its coming. It is really not hard to buy into some of the Obama conspiracy theories the way his administration is shamelessly power grabbing for the federal government.
 
what makes it weird is that a Democratic and Republican Senator authored this bill together?? what's all that about?
 

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