Should the U.S. president have executive control over the Internet?
Civil liberties groups are up in arms over a new bill proposing that the president of the United States should have executive control over the connection between private sector networks and the Internet. This control would happen in case of a cyber attack infringing on national security.
According to CNET, a revised version of the bill is currently in the works by West Virginia Democrat Sen. Jay Rockefeller, which indicates that the president can take control of the connections between private sector network and the Internet during national emergencies. This bill was drafted probably due to the increase in cyber security related attacks across the globe and a means to deal with a rapidly growing technology.
Currently in countries like China, the Internet and news outlets are largely controlled by the government. This has been a hot topic for civil liberty activists across the globe. Many fear that the U.S. may be heading towards a similar path if control of the Internet were to completely fall under government hands.
According to Declan McCullagh, CNET writer, under the revised bill the word cyber covers anything that has to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers and computer networks. Rockefeller stated, “We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs–from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records.”
It’s understandable that some kind of safety net may need to be created in case cyber terrorists decide to try to bring down our network infrastructure to cripple the U.S. However, many are questioning the decision to give absolute power to control information to one man, the president of the U.S.
If this authority were to fall amongst a commission or a group of people then the concerns from civil liberties groups would die down. However, the downside to doing this is that it would slow down the ability to react quickly during emergency situations.
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