Should the President Control the Internet?

[L.Wood]

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"Should President Obama have the power to shut down domestic Internet traffic during a state of emergency?

Senators John Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) think so. On Wednesday they introduced a bill to establish the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor—an arm of the executive branch that would have vast power to monitor and control Internet traffic to protect against threats to critical cyber infrastructure. That broad power is rattling some civil libertarians.

The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 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.


Mother Jones story here

You may read the proposed (PDF) working draft of the legislation here.

(Before RW extremists jump for joy be reminded this is not BHO's brainchild. Senator Rockefeller has been sounding off about cyber security for awhile)

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[Randall Doc Fleck]

While giving the president an additional potential power to wield and considering that any power placed in the hands of a single individual over a mass of others automatically carries with it a risk for abuse, there remains a certainty of an even greater risk (even to the point of an emergency) that hostile outside terrorist organizations, which do in fact exist, might find the internet to be an attractive tool for spreading their terror or might look upon the internet itself as a primary target of their terror.

When we begin to mistrust our own leadership on an equal plain to any mistrust we might wisely have of outsiders, we in effect give those same mistrusted outsiders an advantage.

I say trusting our own leaders, within the reasonable framework of internal checks and balances safeguard system, a safeguard system that has always worked well for our country, isn't taking the risk of giving over a power to be feared but rather it is taking a wise step toward giving over a power to yield a decrease of our fear.

My answer is "yes," the President should have the power to shut down the internet. I can't begin to fathom the likelihood that any president might turn such power against his own citizenry.

[L.Wood]

Well reasoned Randall. However the road to government abuse has been lined with good intentions.

Memory lane:

HUAC or U.S. House unAmerican Activities Committee was originally established to investigate
a Wall Street cabal (the Business Plot) who had plans to take over the FDR administration by force. FDR sent the investigation
into a quiet death.

That same HUAC was later used by rabid Rwing investigators to ruin careers of creative people suspected of liberal ties and communist ties during post WWII.

Office of Faith-Based Initiatives was begun under Pres. Clinton. It was used under Monkey Boy to promote fundamentalists solutions to social problems.

Under fear of terrorist-nuclear attack, hyped up by Bush, Congress gave up some of our Constitutional safeguards by hasitly passing The Patriot Act which few had read.

At best this Internet security act needs careful discussion and debate and all provisions clearly defined.

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