Under “Cybersecurity,” Congress will be the internet’s greatest threat
by Brad O’Leary
Gird your blogs, because if liberals in Congress get their way,President Obama will have sole discretionary authority to shut down theInternet or critical parts of the Internet should he feel hispresidency is being tested. Worse, under the guise of cybersecurity,Obama will essentially be granted the power to destroy free speech onthe web.
On April 1st of this year, Senators Rockefeller, Snowe, Bayh and Nelsonintroduced bills S. 773 and S.778, collectively called theCybersecurity Act, which would give President Obama dictatorial powerover the Internet during a time of national crisis or emergency.
All of the bills’ sponsors voted for the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Actof 2002 that prohibited organizations and individuals from runningadvocacy ads against candidates 60 days in advance of a generalelection. Now it seems these same people have conjured up a gag orderfor the Internet.According to the current drafts, under the Cyber Security Act of 2009the President may “declare a cybersecurity emergency and order thelimitation or shut down of Internet traffic to and from any comprisedfederal government or United States critical infrastructure informationsystem or network”. He may also “order the disconnection of any FederalGovernment or United States critical infrastructure information systemsor networks in the interest of national security.”
What constitutes “cybersecurity emergency” or “critical infrastructureinformation system or network” is left completely up to the Presidentto define. We know that the Administration, according to Rahm Emanuel,never wants “a serious crisis to go to waste”. We also know theAdministration supports the regulation of free speech on the Internet.
President Obama’s choice to lead the powerful Office of Information andRegulatory Affairs is none other than Cass Sunstein, a radical Harvardlaw professor and supporter of the Fairness Doctrine for the Internet. According to Sunstein, “A system of limitless individual choices, withrespect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest ofcitizenship and self-government.”
Obama campaign fundraiser and FCC Chair nominee, Julius Genachowski, isa supporter of “Net neutrality”, the first step in applying theFairness Doctrine to the Internet.
“Net neutrality” proponents like Genachowski would have governmentdecide what content Internet operators and network owners must provide.Incredibly, they claim this is to keep the Internet free and open toall, when in reality, their goal is to usher the heavy hands of federalregulators into the tent.
Stifling any venue where ideology competes with left-wing mainstreammedia has always been a goal of the left and Obama. Obama has just beenmore evasive in his means by supporting policies such as “netneutrality” and wobbling on the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrineto talk radio. Liberal members of Congress are now set on sendingAmerica on an unconstitutional b-line away from Uncle Sam and directlyto Big Brother.
The Cybersecurity Act is also includes a provision where “TheDepartment of Commerce shall serve as the clearinghouse ofcybersecuirty threat and vulnerability information to the FederalGovernment and private sector owned(emphasis mine) critical infrastructure information systems andnetworks.” Shelving all privacy laws including the requirement forwarrants, the Secretary of Commerce “shall have access to all relevantdata concerning such networks without regard to any provision of law,regulation, rule or policy restricting such access.” SenatorRockefeller made it clear in his statement what “relevant data” thisact could include when he stated “We must protect our criticalinfrastructure at all costs – from our water to our electricity, tobanking, traffic lights and electronic health records – the list goeson.”
While we have worried about cyber attacks from Russia and China, whowould have thought the greatest threat would come from members of ourown Congress.