Thaindian News

June 18 (THAINDIAN NEWS) In a report from CNET the news is spreading of a newly proposed Senate bill which would give the President of the United States the power and authority to “seize control of or even shut down portions of the Internet.”

Joe Lieberman is sponsoring a new Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PCNAA) bill, which is being nicknamed, “The Internet Kill Switch” because it would give the president pretty much absolute power over the Internet, and many other forms of communication.

A new agency would be formed in the Department of Homeland Security to oversee this bill. It would require for all private companies, like “broadband providers, search engines, or software firms, immediately comply with any emergency measure or action” put in place by the Department of Homeland Security, or else face fines.” CNET stated.

The newly formed agency to oversee the bill National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC) would insist that any private company which depends 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, the report went on to say.

Many groups, such as ‘TechAmerica’ are warning Americans against the bill, and criticizing those who are proposing it. These groups are especially reaching out to any citizen whose lively-hood would depend on the Internet, telephone, and other services which this bill could effect.

But Senator Joseph Lieberman is defending the bill, arguing that it is vital to give the president the right to give the order, “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.”

Others argue back, that in essence, Lieberman proposing that citizens should give the president the power to silence their freedom of speech, such as journalists, and others whose living depends on these forms of communication. “It is against the constitution..period,” one US veteran stated.