4/5/09

The barbarians (us) must be near the gates

The Cybersecurity Act of 2009, sponsored by Senators John Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe, would give Obama the power to shut down domestic internet traffic during a state of emergency. Just about everything is left undefined, naturally. Maybe they consulted with John Yoo to draft this legislation? It's got that unitary executive thang going on.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (PDF) gives the president the ability to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" and shut down or limit Internet traffic in any "critical" information network "in the interest of national security." The bill does not define a critical information network or a cybersecurity emergency. That definition would be left to the president.

The bill does not only add to the power of the president. It also grants the Secretary of Commerce "access to all relevant data concerning [critical] networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access." This means he or she can monitor or access any data on private or public networks without regard to privacy laws.

Rockefeller made cybersecurity one of his key issues as a member of the Senate intelligence committee, which he chaired until last year. He now heads the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which will take up this bill. [How convenient is that?!]

"We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs—from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records—the list goes on," [and on and on and on...] Rockefeller said in a statement. Snowe echoed her colleague, saying, "if we fail to take swift action, we, regrettably, risk a cyber-Katrina."

Oh please. A cyber-Katrina. Who thinks this shit up?

The elites must be getting very, very nervous. It's almost time to protect the criminal infrastructure at all costs.

2 comments:

Sis said...

Just what we need, at a time when we are loosing our daily newspapers and becoming dependents of major networks.

Perhaps it is time to practice smoke signals, so we'll have means to communicate, should they enact the security measures by ducktaping our typing fingers.

Democracy without free press? Impossible. We're becoming more like North Korea every day.

Greg Bacon said...

Oh please. A cyber-Katrina. Who thinks this shit up?

Focus groups and push polls. Some of the same bastards that "branded" the Afghanistan invasion and the illegal bombing of Pakistan as the "Af-Pak" war. Rolls off the tongue so easy and rhymes with AIPAC.

I watched Republican pollster Frank Luntz on CSpan conduct a focus group and it was something.

Talk about loaded questions.

Guess the DC elite can't push that "Thought Crime Act", now sitting on the desk of that true American, Senator Joe Lieberman (Likud Party-Israel) thru Congress without another 9/11.
So, they'll ram this concoction down our throats.

Damn pesky ingrates, those little people are! Just look at what we've gave them over the years!

legal mumbo jumbo

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