Ahrcanum

With more change you can believe in; President Obama and his administration has taken over banks, insurance companies, portions of the automobile industry and continues to set his eyes on controlling the private sector of the Internet. 

Back in April 09,”Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) today announced the introduction of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation to address our nation’s vulnerability to cyber crime, global cyber espionage, and cyber attacks that could potentially cripple the United States’ critical infrastructure.http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=bb7223ef-1d78-4de4-b1d5-4cf54fc38662

The first draft, pdf http://cdt.org/security/CYBERSEC4.pdf has apparently gone through some revisions, but continues to give the president powers to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” and shut down or limit Internet traffic in any “critical” information network “in the interest of national security.”  The new working draft of the Rockefeller/Cybersecurity Act / S.773  can be found here http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.00773:

I wonder what the definition of a critical information network or a cybersecurity emergency is?  Would Obama decide that too many blogs or news stories that are in disagreement with his policies requires a shut down?

The bill does not define a critical information network or a cybersecurity emergency. That definition would be left to the president.

The bill also gives the Secretary of Commerce “access to all relevant data concerning [critical] networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access.”  Translated, this the government can monitor or access any data on private or public networks without regard to privacy laws.  How special that our Constitutional Harvard Law Graduate of a President continues to erode our Constitution and freedom of speech.  What about Constitutional protection against searches without cause?

Granted, cybersecurity threats are real and we need to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure.  A little law from the 1980’s- The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)  requires law enforcement seek a warrant before tapping in to data transmissions between computers.  To whom does Obama answer? The Internet Security Czar?  ROLF. 

In conspiracy land, Obama could make use of Rep. Linda T. Sanchez bill http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1966 pending that says, “`Sec. 881. Cyberbullying. (a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned” ……. I am having emotional distress at the possibility of government restricting information!  Is the White House distressed because people disagree with the Health Insurance reform bill? 

With the coming of Internet 2, 3, 4, 5 etc we are already restricted. The federally funded Next Generation Internet (NGI) project (http://www.ngi.gov/) exists parallel to and complementary with Internet2 that is filled with bits of information that the common Internet user does not have access to even though our tax dollars fund it. I’m no expert, but wouldn’t it make sense to take critical networks to another level?

Melissa Hathaway, the White House’s last acting cybersecurity czar jumped ship after her recommendations were made. She, ” figured out that what the government can do to secure cyberspace is … nothing. Neither the computer networks nor human organizations cited in the official definition of cyberspace in Hathaway’s report were designed for top-down regulation. Federal oversight works for airports, but not for the Internet. In cyberspace, the best thing the government can do is what Hathaway just did: get out of the way.  http://venturebeat.com/2009/08/04/cybersecurity-czar-has-the-right-idea-give-up-on-centralized-security/

From the White House earlier this month,”we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov. sourced at http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/.  The Privacy Act of 1974 courtesy of  Nixon’s Watergate scandal prohibits any federal agency from maintaining records on individuals exercising their right to free speech but there is also a statute that requires the White House to retain all communications that it receives. More on this at https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/white-house-fishy-information-legal-in-cyberwar/

The conundrum boils down to one more thing the government seeks to control.  At least the premise of the Fairness Doctrine for the time being is on the shelf. 

 From the folks at CBS NEWS http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/28/taking_liberties/entry5270834.shtml who talked to Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the Senate Commerce committee, on the phone. She sent me e-mail with this statement:

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 shut down 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 (emphasis mine) 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.

“Free speech goes right to the very heart of what it is I talk about all the time – blogging. I believe that bloggers form an army of citizen reporters. Not all bloggers get it right. Some of them are downright nuts. But, in a country with free speech, that is par for the course.” says http://www.davidrisley.com/2009/08/28/free-speech-infringement/ and I agree wholeheartedly.

I said it before,” What’s a good defense, if you don’t have a good offense like Big Brother collecting personal data?” Now having the potential to just shut it all down as the President deems, dooms us to another step up the socialism ladder.   Pulling the plug on grandpa and the Internet in the same presidency redefines liberty and tyranny.

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