Senators propose granting president emergency Internet power

[mrjarrell]

Joe Lieberman wants to give the president the power to control the internet. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I don't care who's in office, they don't need the power to turn off, or control the internet. This is a bad idea, regardless of which idiot is in the White House. And creating a whole new bureaucracy to oversee the 'net? Wonder if Mr. Lieberman got this idea from the Chinese?

via CNET

new U.S. Senate bill would grant the president far-reaching emergency powers to seize control of or even shut down portions of the Internet. The legislation announced Thursday says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines, or software firms that the government selects "shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed" by the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone failing to comply would be fined.

That emergency authority would allow the federal government to "preserve those networks and assets and our country and protect our people," Joe Lieberman, the primary sponsor of the measure and the chairman of the Homeland Security committee, told reporters on Thursday. Lieberman is an independent senator from Connecticut who caucuses with the Democrats.
Because there are few limits on the president's emergency power, which can be renewed indefinitely, the densely worded 197-page bill (PDF) is likely to encounter stiff opposition.
TechAmerica, probably the largest U.S. technology lobby group, said it was concerned about "unintended consequences that would result from the legislation's regulatory approach" and "the potential for absolute power." And the Center for Democracy and Technology publicly worried that the Lieberman bill's emergency powers "include authority to shut down or limit Internet traffic on private systems."
The idea of an Internet "kill switch" that the president could flip is not new. A draft Senate proposal that CNET obtained in August allowed the White House to "declare a cybersecurity emergency," and another from Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) would have explicitly given the government the power to "order the disconnection" of certain networks or Web sites.
On Thursday, both senators lauded Lieberman's bill, which is formally titled the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, or PCNAA. Rockefeller said "I commend" the drafters of the PCNAA. Collins went further, signing up at a co-sponsor and saying at a press conference that "we cannot afford to wait for a cyber 9/11 before our government realizes the importance of protecting our cyber resources."
Under PCNAA, the federal government's power to force private companies to comply with emergency decrees would become unusually broad. Any company on a list created by Homeland Security that also "relies on" the Internet, the telephone system, or any other component of the U.S. "information infrastructure" would be subject to command by a new National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC) that would be created inside Homeland Security.

More at the source.

 

[TopDog]

This is all the same crap the Liberals were screaming foul about when Bush was in office. Trampling of rights etc and as soon as these tyrants get in office they do the same damn thing. It does not matter which party these scoundrels belong to they all have their own agenda that are all bad for the people.

 

[NordicHeathenVinlander]

This is all the same crap the Liberals were screaming foul about when Bush was in office. Trampling of rights etc and as soon as these tyrants get in office they do the same damn thing. It does not matter which party these scoundrels belong to they all have their own agenda that are all bad for the people.

AND THANK YOU!!!!



One thing that seems appearant is the Liberal/Obama/Communist scare that the Public doesnt need the foul Mainstream Media to get it's News.

I get 100% of my News from the internet. Some guys at Wal-mart on 71st and Keystone got angry because I snuffed they're spill to sale me door to door News paper. Those idiots are just that, backwards.

I this as a personal attack, to keep people from spreading valuable information/net working and simply spreading ideas which the Sitting party might not like.

Obama, despite the communist claim, I personally believe have angered a majority of Americans.

 

[9lock]

This is all the same crap the Liberals were screaming foul about when Bush was in office. Trampling of rights etc and as soon as these tyrants get in office they do the same damn thing. It does not matter which party these scoundrels belong to they all have their own agenda that are all bad for the people.

Thank you! I am so glad others are seeing this.

 

[JetGirl]

This is all the same crap the Liberals were screaming foul about when Bush was in office.

This is a bad idea, regardless of which idiot is in the White House.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

 

[jbombelli]

This is all the same crap the Liberals were screaming foul about when Bush was in office. Trampling of rights etc and as soon as these tyrants get in office they do the same damn thing. It does not matter which party these scoundrels belong to they all have their own agenda that are all bad for the people.

Funny how that works, isn't it?