Wire: Senate Bill Would Allow Obama to Take Emergency Control of Internet

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2009 -- Newswire services this morning reported that a revised version of a bill that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors, would give president emergency control of Internet.

The top technology news Web site CNET Friday reported that they had obtained a copy of the 55-page draft, which appears to permit the president to seize control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

CNET noted the following details:

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.

The privacy implications of sweeping changes implemented before the legal review is finished worry Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco told CNET. "As soon as you're saying that the federal government is going to be exercising this kind of power over private networks, it's going to be a really big issue," he says.

See links for details.

(Report from newswire sources.)

Links:
Draft bill (excerpt)
CNET: Bill would give president emergency control of Internet

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