Obama wants the right to kill...Internet
By Stela Roman
President Obama will be handed the power to shut down the Internet for at least four months without Congressional oversight if the Senate votes for the infamous Internet ‘kill switch’ bill.
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, proposed by Senator Joe Lieberman doesn't really have any limitations. Which means it would hand absolute power to the federal government to close down networks, and block incoming Internet traffic from certain countries under a declared national emergency.
Despite the Center for Democracy and Technology and 23 other privacy and technology organizations sending letters to Lieberman and other backers of the bill expressing concerns that the legislation could be used to stifle free speech, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed in the bill in advance of a vote on the Senate floor.TechAmerica, probably the largest US technology lobby group declared that the bill could create "unintended consequences that would result from the legislation's regulatory approach" and a dangerous "potential for absolute power". The Center for Democracy and Technology agrees, commenting that giving the President the "authority to shut down or limit internet traffic on private systems" was unacceptable.
Sen. Susan Collins , on the other hand, praised the bill as remarking, "We cannot afford to wait for a cyber 9/11 before our government realises the importance of protecting our cyber resources."
The Senators pushing the bill rejected the claim that the bill was a ‘kill switch’ for the Internet.They argued it by saying “That the President already had authority under the Communications Act to “cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communication” when there is a “state or threat of war”
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