2009-04-14 Cybersecurity Act would give president power to shut down Internet

2009-04-14 Greg Fulton The Raw Story \war on the internet\Jay Rockefeller\Olympia Snowe http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cybersecurity_Act_seeks_broad_powers_0413.html Cybersecurity Act would give president power to 'shut down' Internet Cybersecurity Act would give president power to shut down Internet  A recently proposed but little-noticed Senate bill would allow the federal government to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration.

The bill's draft states that "the president may order a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic" and would give the government ongoing access to "all relevant data concerning (critical infrastructure) networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access."

Authored by Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 seeks to create a Cybersecurity Czar to centralize power now held by the Pentagon, National Security Agency, Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security.

While the White House has not officially endorsed the draft, it did have a hand in its language, according to The Washington Post.

&ldquo;A recently proposed but little-noticed Senate bill would allow the federal government to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration.&rdquo;   