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In the event of a national emergency, the bill would grant the power to control, and even shut down, large swaths of the Internet to the National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC), a new office created within the DHS by the PCNAA. The legislation has garnered support from Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe who proposed similar powers last August, but it's bound to run into serious opposition from tech lobbyists, privacy groups and those who wish to limit the power of the federal government.
While the need to address issues of cybersecurity before, in the words of Senator Snowe, we experience a "cyber 9/11" is undeniable, there is serious cause for concern with the rather dense bill. For one, the language is often extremely broad and any company that "relies on... information infrastructure" in the U.S. would be subject to control by the NCCC. The law would also create additional bureaucratic obstacles for Homeland Security, the Defense Department and other offices that deal with domestic intelligence. It would also fall to the NCCC to monitor private websites and businesses to determine their "security status." Almost as worrisome as the potential for abuse of power by the government though is the immunity from civil suits granted to businesses. In the event of an "incident related to a cyber vulnerability," if the company has complied with federal standards plaintiffs will be unable collect damages related to economic losses.
On the plus side, the legislation does include specific language that bars the NCCC from ordering warrantless surveillance of broadband customers. We suppose that is a vast improvement over the last eight years of domestic spying ambiguity. [From: CNET, Via: Huffington Post]
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Comments
26
Subscribe to commentsSamboJun 20th 2010 8:28PM
Same old song and dance. "If you give up some of your freedom you'll be a lot safer."
TomJun 21st 2010 10:30AM
Lieberman should be voted out of office immediately. People, wake up and fight back against these unconstitutional restrictions of liberty.
wqewqeJun 21st 2010 2:47PM
next-gen cyber-attack for a real "cyber 9/11":
forge NCCC shut-down notice to all internet providers, taking down the entirety of US internet causing the largest economic loss in history.
This won't prevent a major attack, it will create a gateway for the largest possible attack in history.
rolandcarlboyceJun 21st 2010 4:50PM
I see another possibility coming too, Revolution. It just may be that time in the U.S.S' long History to do just that!
AndreJun 22nd 2010 8:19AM
People you have to read Obama Has nothing to do with it and They say in the event of An Emergency we live in a different world with the terrorist and extremist who want us all dead we sometimes have to take un-popular un-conventional ways to protect all people even if they dont want or like it this is why this country is so great we have problems but we try!
gregstrmsJun 26th 2010 9:34AM
Lieberman is a long-time Democrat, for all his life.FYI Obama a democrat is president so nothing passes without his signature and Democrats control Congress .So lieberman put forth this bill cause he knows Democrats would pass it. and there are more bills like this coming from democrats like Net Netrality.
Democrats/Marxists/liberals have steadily expanded government size and power for the last 120 years. Democrats and Obama are the ones passing bills. No Republican or conservative would dare propose a bill as Democrats controll Congress or Obama would stop that bill.
Funny that us Republicans/Conservatives are above all else for freedom and liberty,and a small limited , weak government as detailed in the Constitution. Yet Democrats grow the goverment and liberals and the media blame it on Republicans. It's as if we keep losing freedom, jobs, energy, and we don't even know the real culprits democrats but think the innocent us Republicans are the ones doing this. Hey government/democrats leave us alone. All we Republicans want is to lead our lives how we see fit, work where we want to , own what we want to , and to be living in freedom. It's you liberals who want to tell us what light bulbs to use, what cars to drive , that we can't drill for oil, and a million other things for a lie called global warming and other lies. Leave us alone you are nothing and by what right do you think you can control our lives and take most of our money by "taxes"?