Internet 'Kill Switch' Would Give President Power To Shut Down The Web

A new Senate bill, sponsored by Senator Joseph Lieberman, proposes to give the president the authority "to seize control of or even shut down portions of the Internet," according to CNET.

The authority granted to the government in the bill, known as the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PCNAA), has been likened to an Internet "kill switch."

The bill would require that private companies--such as "broadband providers, search engines, or software firms," CNET explains--"immediately comply with any emergency measure or action" put in place by the Department of Homeland Security, or else face fines.

It would also see the creation of a new agency within the Department of Homeland Security, the National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC). Any private company reliant on "the Internet, the telephone system, or any other component of the U.S. 'information infrastructure'" would be "subject to command" by the NCCC, and some would be required to engage in "information sharing" with the agency, says CBS4.

Numerous groups, such as TechAmerica, have criticized the bill, warning of the "potential for absolute power" and expressing reservations about the "unintended consequences that would result from the legislation's regulatory approach."

Liberman recently defended the PCNAA, arguing that it was imperative the president had the ability to "say to an electric company or to say to Verizon, in the national interest, 'There's an attack about to come, and I hereby order you to put a patch on this, or put your network down on this part, or stop accepting any incoming from country A.'"

He added that the bill is necessary for it would reduce the liability of companies that may need to resort to extreme measures in an emergency situation. Companies might have to "do things in a normal business sense you'd be hesitant to do but national security requires you to do," Lieberman explained, adding "We protect them from that because the action the government is ordering them to take is in national security or economic interest."

CNET notes an Internet "kill switch" has been proposed before:

A draft Senate proposal that CNET obtained in August allowed the White House to "declare a cybersecurity emergency," and another from Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) would have explicitly given the government the power to "order the disconnection" of certain networks or Web sites.

Comments

[Merle Savage]

02:37 PM on 07/10/2010

Is the Internet Kill Switch taking away our freedom of speech????

[radioevangelist]

10:00 AM on 06/28/2010

Well, Folks. Being Ultra Conservative, I normally do not post here, though I will come to read the news from time to time. I believe this is an issue we can all agree upon. Whether it is a Liberal or Conservative President, no one, and I mean NO ONE should have that kind of authority, period. They want to pass this off as a way to fight cyber-terrorism, when in fact it is an attempt to gain control of the news and information people receive through sources other than main stream media outlets. It is nothing more than the continued take over of Government into the private lives and rights of American Citizens for the last 20 years under both Republican and Democratic control. This needs to be stopped, and everyone of us need to be calling out Congressmen and Senators and putting our foot down on this issue. God Bless America!

[monstaar]

06:46 PM on 06/27/2010

Don't worry, democrats will be AGAINST this bill as soon as Republicans get in power.

[Dendroc]

10:44 PM on 06/26/2010

They WILL get this power, and they WILL abuse it, mark my words.

Note how Democrats are pushing for it. That should serve as a lesson to those who believe there is a substantial, fundamental difference between the two wings of the Establishment party, and that voting and working within the system alone can produce fundamental change.

I think the only reasonable response is for activists to start building our own alternate fallback network. There are still modems and voice-line phones out there, and there's lots of old software that can be used to exchange text-based information via them. (It's what people did before high-speed networking.)

[rlholley]

07:54 PM on 06/26/2010

Chip, chip, chippin' away at _e _he _eople.

[Connie Snyder]

02:09 PM on 06/26/2010

Could the right-wing please take note of who is promoting this? LIEBERMAN, the closet GOBP senator. Then do recall which administration put The Patriot Act in place. Why, the GOP is so confident that they will swep the mid-terms that they are getting ready to finish the power grab they started under Bush/Cheney Reign of Terror. They are tightening that noose around our necks and the ignorant aren't aware they are standing on the trap door. How perfect: the executioner gets the sentenced to pull the trap door on himself. Perfect!

[monstaar]

06:47 PM on 06/27/2010

Bush/Cheney Reign of Terror?
What about the Obama Reign of Terror?
WAKE UP!

[winner110]

10:42 PM on 06/27/2010

I can't believe, you can't see what Obama has already done. But still you have to go back and blame Bush. As far as Liberman, he started a democrat. But has sided mostly with democrats. but he is a puppet,as to what ever party,has the white house. But by all means let's not say that Obama, has the most, along the more struggle for the power grab.. I would say, as you are one of those standing on that trap door, and worst of all Obama has the handle. With you being one of those, that has fogotten how many, this man has thrown under the train to better himself. And he or she that has that much faith in anyone, with their hand's on the handle, exspecially a politition, has for sure consumed to much liquid, as the foregoing statement I would be safe in saying Obama koolaid ! Drink all you can consume, before the next election. As you can see Obama couldn't run an outhouse, if it just had one seat.

[EndSeparateness]

10:17 AM on 06/26/2010

Unfortunately whoever titled this work got it WRONG in my opinion. The ability of the President to shut down the internet is not news. We've already been witness to far greater abuses of executive/congressional/court power(s). The real story here is the wording of the legalese giving power to this new entity called the NCCC. What control will it have over user information and user activity? We're institutionalizing the Patriot Act's overreaching intrusion into our personal lives. What was thrust upon us during the fog of the 9/11 catastrophe is now being permanently codified. Naomi Klein has made some very pertinent accusations on the power structure in the US; We are trending towards a "closing society" and the election of a Democrat has had no effect on this trend.

[th3sk3ptic]

09:17 AM on 06/26/2010

Not Good, I can't think of a bill that Lieberman has ever sponsored that was a good idea. Heck I even remember when he trying to get Mortal Kombat banned , Jeez

[DeSwiss]

08:45 AM on 06/26/2010

Whenever the rights of the people to communicate is threatened, we are well nigh headed into the jaws of a police state.

REVOLT!

[Chris Phillips]

04:00 PM on 06/26/2010

we've been in a police state since the civil war.

[DeSwiss]

05:33 PM on 06/26/2010

Yep, pretty much.

[Scott Stevenson]

12:21 AM on 06/29/2010

ummm...the Civil War was over slavery...there's a difference

[socialtalker]

10:21 PM on 06/25/2010

i am totally depressed about this issue. its an open assault on our freedoms, and its obvious most of the fourth estate is complicit in this plan.

[lonbwoy]

05:44 PM on 06/25/2010

This is FREAKIN.G unbelievable, the government basically can now say, hey your organization/company or home cannot have Internet access because we say so, unreal!.

[LynnW49]

05:03 PM on 06/25/2010

Let's see if I have this right. "Any private company reliant on the Internet, the telephone system, or any other component of the U.S. information infrastructure would be subject to command by the NCCC." But we can't get a PRIVATE company using it's own selected and crappy methods to clean up its mess on PUBLIC waters and lands to allow respirators for cleanup workers and to stop using dispersants? Oh, and to engage in "information sharing". Even though said private company has created an enornous threat to our "national economic interest."

[jim432]

12:21 AM on 06/25/2010

Lieberman should be impeached for introducing this bill which violates our first amendment rights.

[mlm4420]

05:57 PM on 06/23/2010

The is a definite power grab and over reaching behind the guise of "homeland security" for power. I wonder how other companies around the globe feel about the U.S being able to halt all communication and information on a whim.

[mlm4420]

05:59 PM on 06/23/2010

Sorry, I meant 'countries' and not companies

[EndSeparateness]

10:04 AM on 06/26/2010

that's an appropriate freudian slip...as there is no real distinction between the two anymore...country/company; they're the same difference. But if you notice the internet is very much controlled by its host Nation. The idea that the Internet is borderless is an illusion. The real question here is just how much control this new entity called the NCCC will have over user activity and user information.

[manicore]

03:24 PM on 06/23/2010

Just in case there are a few people out there living in caves and were not sure if we still lived in a FREE Country anymore the Answer of course is NO!
The corporate Media, the Patriot Act,and now control of the Internet.
What exactly are we fighting for in Afghanistan and Iraq?

[EndSeparateness]

10:26 AM on 06/26/2010

Don't you see? It's the ILLUSION of democracy that they are fighting for in the middle east. When the people THINK/BELIEVE they have a choice they become complacent...Keep up the fight! At some point in Mankind's history the people will get it right...but it is going to require casting off a lot of baggage...a lot of nationalistic ethno-centric ego-maniacal baggage.