Reports have crept up that a bill in the US Senate has been drafted that would allow the President the ability to exert control over the Internet in the event of a Cyber Emergency.
Currently in draft form Bill SB 773 or the Cyber Security Act of 2009, the bill actually has three co-sponsors, including Olympia Snow from from Maine.
Section 2 of the bill includes language from a speech the Obama made last year in which he noted that China has long been aware of the threats posed by cyber attack. The only problem is that China considers free speech a cyber attack and has banned companies from using unrestricted access to internet sites.
The big issue with this bill is that it gives an appointed czar the ability to lead and establish standards for cyber security and it could control who can become certified for such endeavors. Currently these mechanisms are controlled by certification boards and background checks conducted in the private sector. There has been robust scientific and academic research on maintaining a cyber security presence in the private sector and it has been working.
Perhaps we need to encourage active participation in cyber security education as a means of extending what is currently working and to promote better security procedures and protocols in the finance and governmental sectors. Giving the President the ability to shut down a given website unilaterally represents a potential violation of the takings clause in that such a shutdown could cause irreparable economic harm, and therefore be required to provide due process prior to such a shutdown.
My concern is chiefly that the chance is there for the Government or its assignee to misuse the power contained in the bill in order to chill the very nature of the first amendment. Write your congressman and complain that the bill as presently written is unacceptable to you and your family and that you strongly urge the rejection of such controls without adequate oversight and redress capabilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment