Can't tell if this is Chicken Little or if it is credible posturing. The bill does, indeed, exist; but does it grant the overarching authority the author claims? Having seen other laws taken to their wildest extreme -- Seizure and Forfeiture and RICO would be good examples -- it is not beyond the pale; and assurances that it won't gives little comfort.
It seems that this new bill is in the works; and it takes the place of a former attempt to do this last spring. Who is in office is not the problem. The problem is the content of the bill and the authority it endows on the president, whoever s/he may be. If the power is innocuous then <shrug>. If not ...
The story:
LINK
The pertinent portion of the bill:
LINK
An e-mail from Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the Senate Commerce committee states the following:
It seems that this new bill is in the works; and it takes the place of a former attempt to do this last spring. Who is in office is not the problem. The problem is the content of the bill and the authority it endows on the president, whoever s/he may be. If the power is innocuous then <shrug>. If not ...
The story:
LINK
The pertinent portion of the bill:
LINK
An e-mail from Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the Senate Commerce committee states the following:
The president of the United States has always had the constitutional authority, and duty, to protect the American people and direct the national response to any emergency that threatens the security and safety of the United States. The Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity bill makes it clear that the president's authority includes securing our national cyber infrastructure from attack. The section of the bill that addresses this issue, applies specifically to the national response to a severe attack or natural disaster. This particular legislative language is based on longstanding statutory authorities for wartime use of communications networks. To be very clear, the Rockefeller-Snowe bill will not empower a "government shutdown or takeover of the Internet" and any suggestion otherwise is misleading and false. The purpose of this language is to clarify how the president directs the public-private response to a crisis, secure our economy and safeguard our financial networks, protect the American people, their privacy and civil liberties, and coordinate the government's response.