Bill would give president emergency control of Internet...

[Henry Hawk]

Bill would give president emergency control of Internet...

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

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. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

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.

"I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness," said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, which counts representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board. "It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill."

Representatives of other large Internet and telecommunications companies expressed concerns about the bill in a teleconference with Rockefeller's aides this week, but were not immediately available for interviews on Thursday.

[me]

There are just waaaaaay too many things being drafted behind closed doors for my liking.  They didn't like Bush doing things which weren't even close to this so why is Obama getting a free pass?

[Elaine]

Jay was governor of wva once.  he was a dumbass then too

[LOsborne]

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

C'mon, ya'll, even the Chinese can't successfully censor the internet.

The censoring began at 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday as access to sites was blocked, though users could still reportedly reach some of them through proxies, VPNs and third-party desktop clients.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/china-censors-internet-before-tiananmen-square-anniversary/

And how ya gonna disconnect everybody in these days of Wi-Fi?

[me]

But do we really want to find out?  Why is he wanting to do this in the first place? <--------Shouldn't that be the question asked?

[Exterminator]

If Bush had done this under the guise of protecting you little candy-asses from terrorism, you'd have had your tongues so far up his butt, he couldn't have squeaked out a fart.

[me]

If Bush had done this under the guise of protecting you little candy-asses from terrorism, you'd have had your tongues so far up his butt, he couldn't have squeaked out a fart.

Candy asses?  So now we're candy asses for not wanting buildings in the US blown up?  Bush wanted to protect us from foreign terrorists not from people voicing opinions differing from the current administration. Bush has nothing to do with what's going on now.  Quit trying to deflect from the current issue.

[Exterminator]

Candy asses?  So now we're candy asses for not wanting buildings in the US blown up?  Bush wanted to protect us from foreign terrorists not from people voicing opinions differing from the current administration. Bush has nothing to do with what's going on now.  Quit trying to deflect from the current issue.

No, you moron, you're candy-asses for allowing an act of terrorism to permanently alter the American way of life and for being willing to abandon our Constitution for the illusion of security.  You can either live in an open society or you can be protected from terrorism...you can't have it both ways.  And if Bush had really wanted to protect us from foreign terrorists, he had all of the information at his disposal to do so before 9/11...he did nothing.

[pariann]

Wow, slow down. You are making typo's.

[Exterminator]

Wow, slow down. You are making typo's.

OMFG!   

[pariann]

you missed one.

[Exterminator]

Where?

[pariann]

You fixed it.  Aren't you glad that I didn't do any quoting this time?  Makes me look like I don't know what I'm talking about, except for the little notice at the bottom that says you edited the post. LOL

[Exterminator]

Shhhhh...

[me]

That's strange I didn't notice any of my constitutional rights being trampled on then like what is happening now.  At this point you can't even disagree with the administration without being labeled a terrorist.