Bill would give president emergency control of Internet

[SavageEagle]

What? Didn't they already have a cyber security division?

 

[techres]

What? Didn't they already have a cyber security division?

They do, and I was being overly big in my tone, but this law is offensive not defensive. They are not playing as the beleaguered defenders of government property but are securing private property and standards as theirs to control when they deem necessary in a time of upheaval.

It's bunk on the face of it. And as a way to help the people, it's just another trap. And no one in their right mind would grant it to any government agency.

 

[SavageEagle]

It's bunk on the face of it. And as a way to help the people, it's just another trap. And no one in their right mind would grant it to any government agency.

Very true, but I still don't see how they can do it. I don't see how it's possible to control EVERY network in the Country. Even then, the Internet is still a free place unless they take control of other Countries networks. I just can't figure all that out.

 

[Delmar]

Look at the co-sponsors, our friend Evan Bayh is one of three.

The more time he spends in Washington, the less I like him. That is true of Lugar too, though.

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

Ryan, the GOV isn't trying to control the "arms" of the internet (private networks), it is controlling the "backbone" of the internet, thus how the GOV may in the future be able to throw a "kill switch" to shut it down. Each government that hosts a part of the servers has moved closer to control over it in the last few years.

The UK is on a marathon run to have EVERYONE in the UK hooked up to broadband internet by 2020 I believe it is. I ask myself, "Why does the GOV care if their citizens are connected to the internet or not?", and the only conclusion that I can come to is that the GOV wants to control whatever content comes into my home (if I lived in the UK, since it is their program). The UK also passed the legislation that gives the GOV the right to remote-search any UK citizen's computer at any time for illegal content.

When you own the delivery method and you own the product that is delivered - you want the "switch" to kill it all when things don't go as you planned.

 

[SavageEagle]

Is there a way to access the internet without a provider?

 

[raider600]

Update at 3:14 p.m. PDT: I just talked to Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the Senate Commerce committee, on the phone. She sent me e-mail with this statement:

The president of the United States has always had the constitutional authority, and duty, to protect the American people and direct the national response to any emergency that threatens the security and safety of the United States. The Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity bill makes it clear that the president's authority includes securing our national cyber infrastructure from attack. The section of the bill that addresses this issue, applies specifically to the national response to a severe attack or natural disaster. This particular legislative language is based on longstanding statutory authorities for wartime use of communications networks. To be very clear, the Rockefeller-Snowe bill will not empower a "government shutdown or takeover of the Internet" and any suggestion otherwise is misleading and false. The purpose of this language is to clarify how the president directs the public-private response to a crisis, secure our economy and safeguard our financial networks, protect the American people, their privacy and civil liberties, and coordinate the government's response.​

 

[raider600]

double post

 

[dburkhead]

Update at 3:14 p.m. PDT: I just talked to Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the Senate Commerce committee, on the phone. She sent me e-mail with this statement:

Any such statements are utterly meaningless when set next to the actual text of the bill itself. Regardless of any stated "intent" the actual text of the bill is what would become law, is what would be enforced, and is what anyone down the road--good intent or bad--will be able to use however the actual wording of the bill permits.

 

[Scout]

Control the media...



Imagine how quickly he could kill the country by turning off the internets. How much business depends on VOIP, email, etc. Hell, you wouldn't even be able to order a big mac at some McDonalds anymore. (Outsourcing Drive Thru? - CBS News) We'd pretty much be dead in the water. Without the internet, how will we be able to get together and stand against this jerk?