Bill Lets Obama Turn Off the Internet

[Truthed]

Two bills introduced giving the President the power to deem a private network part of the nation’s critical infrastructure and shut it down for cybersecurity reasons also gives the Commerce Secretary the power to access network data outside of oversight.
The Big Brother vibe coming off both is reminiscent of a demanding report submitted before Obama even took office. About a month after Election Day, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) issued a report called Securing Cyberspace for the 44th President.
Heard of the military-industrial complex? The CSIS is likely where they meet to carpool.
The recommendations in the report, ignored by the previous administration, are sweeping and demanding. The principle minds behind it hailed from the CIA, the US Navy, Microsoft, Sun, AT&T, ICANN, Lockheed Martin, Cisco, and GE—among a slew of others—and likely those minds felt confident they’d get a more sympathetic ear from the new President. And they were likely right. They’d get that from Congress, too.
Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe introduced legislation last week echoing much of what the CSIS report was looking for, which is primarily a set of standards network operators are to live up to—more on that in a bit. One bill creates the office of cybersecurity czar, called a National Cybersecurity Adviser, who will oversee national network security. Confirmed by the Senate, the cybersecurity czar will have the highest security clearance necessary to monitor infrastructure networks and will be a party to secret initiatives.
Thanks to the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, the cybersecurity czar will be advised by a panel stakeholders from government, private, academic, and nonprofit sectors, much like the signatories to CSIS’s report. Also under the longer bill, the President can order the disconnection of any federal or private critical infrastructure network during emergencies or for reasons of national security. “Critical infrastructure” could include the networks attached to financial, power, transportation, medical, communication or any other network deemed critical that could be the target of a cyber attack.
In short, the President could shut down much of the Internet if he thought necessary. The Secretary of Commerce would also be given "access to all relevant data concerning [critical] networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access" in the event of a cybersecurity emergency.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology would be charged with developing standards and tests for information networks and software used by federal agencies, contractors, or other private networks deemed part of the critical infrastructure.
Typically, when legislation affecting, limiting, or dictating major corporations hits Congress, those corporations make big stinks. Watch AT&T and Verizon go mad with anti-regulation fervor whenever Net Neutrality is brought up. All sectors are suspiciously quiet on this front, though. It could be because there’s big money in standardization, especially if your company gets to create the standards, and there’s big money in government contracts, too. Essentially, sometimes a report is a bid for a job.
While no one would object to the federal government improving its ability to fight off cyber attacks or to updating cybersecurity policies to reflect 21st Century approaches, it seems wise to be wary of handing over so much power to a few people and wary of giving up so much of our digital sovereignty.

SOURCE

[Hacksaw]

"CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN" "YES WE CAN"

People wanted change, well, we got it.

[kidflash2008]

I don't know about the source for this story, but I do know that local communities want to offer broadband for free. The Obama Administration supports that legislation, and the large telecommunications companies are against it.

As Jon Stewart said in a recent program, our guy is now in office. You are not going to like everything he does. I really do not think that Obama is going to do anything that puts our freedoms in jeopardy. One has to only read the Bush memos on scrapping our First and Fourth Amendments to realize who the real enemies of liberty was.

[holeg2212]

I dont think its fair that people are so quick to deem Obama a snake in the grass or misleading, liar etc. Just because he is making decisions some might not agree with... There is always a small chance that he may very well be Pure Evil and just waiting for his time to exude his wrath... however, i think perhaps he's just probably trying to do the right thing...? We will see...

[kidflash2008]

Most of the alleged bills he is for are to be found on many internet sites. President Obama is hated by the right, just like the Bush Administration was hated by the Left.

Libertarians do not like either party, and are especially upset that the Republicans along with FOX News hijacked their Tea Party (and picked the sophomoric name Tea Bagging {check urbandictionary.com, people!}).

I also have a wait and see attitude, and am at least happy he is releasing the documents on torture and other memos the Bush Administration had.

Also, it is good to see the adults in charge of foreign policy. War and invading countries should not be the only response to countries we have difficulties with. Cuba and Venezuela are our neighbors so we should try to work with them to solve the problems. I do find it ironic we tell sovereign nations how to treat their political prisoners when we are busy torturing ours and ignoring the outcry from other nations on such treatment.