Zeno Swijtink
06-11-2010, 12:51 PM
Date: June 11, 2010 1:01:47 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <[email protected]>
Subject: Lieberman bill lets president take emergency control of the Internet
Dave,
IPers might be interested in the bill that Sen. Lieberman introduced yesterday:
https://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=4ee63497-ca5b-4a4b-9bba-04b7f4cb0123
Here's an excerpt from my writeup:
Senators propose granting president emergency Internet power | Politics and Law - CNET News (https://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20007418-38.html)
A new U.S. Senate bill would grant the president far-reaching emergency powers to seize control of or even shut down portions of the Internet.
The legislation announced Thursday says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines, or software firms that the government selects "shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed" by the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone failing to comply would be fined.
The most interesting section starts around page 76. After the president declares a "cyber emergency," then "the owner or operator of covered critical infrastructure shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed by the Director under this section during the pendency of any declaration by the President under subsection (a)(1) or an extension under subsection (b)(2)."
The definitions are intriguing. A "covered critical infrastructure" is a system or asset that is on a DHS list and "for which the national information infrastructure (NII) is essential to the reliable operation of the system or asset." NII is defined as "information infrastructure" (II) "that is owned, operated, or controlled within or from the United States." II is defined as the "framework that information systems" use to transmit information, including "electronic devices" and "software."
So translated, any company for which the telephone system or Internet is "essential" can be ordered by DHS to do anything the department wants, with warrantless wiretapping as the sole exception. There is no other limit to this power, no appeal process, and no judicial review. (How many companies would *not* fit into this elastic definition? Wouldn't your IP list qualify too?)
Now, I'm sure that DHS's defenders (Stewart Baker, are you reading this?) will say that we should trust the department and that it would not misuse this near-absolute authority. And they have a point. But that's a little like making it illegal to breathe and then trusting prosecutorial discretion to only put truly bad guys in prison. :)
To: Dave Farber <[email protected]>
Subject: Lieberman bill lets president take emergency control of the Internet
Dave,
IPers might be interested in the bill that Sen. Lieberman introduced yesterday:
https://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=4ee63497-ca5b-4a4b-9bba-04b7f4cb0123
Here's an excerpt from my writeup:
Senators propose granting president emergency Internet power | Politics and Law - CNET News (https://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20007418-38.html)
A new U.S. Senate bill would grant the president far-reaching emergency powers to seize control of or even shut down portions of the Internet.
The legislation announced Thursday says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines, or software firms that the government selects "shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed" by the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone failing to comply would be fined.
The most interesting section starts around page 76. After the president declares a "cyber emergency," then "the owner or operator of covered critical infrastructure shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed by the Director under this section during the pendency of any declaration by the President under subsection (a)(1) or an extension under subsection (b)(2)."
The definitions are intriguing. A "covered critical infrastructure" is a system or asset that is on a DHS list and "for which the national information infrastructure (NII) is essential to the reliable operation of the system or asset." NII is defined as "information infrastructure" (II) "that is owned, operated, or controlled within or from the United States." II is defined as the "framework that information systems" use to transmit information, including "electronic devices" and "software."
So translated, any company for which the telephone system or Internet is "essential" can be ordered by DHS to do anything the department wants, with warrantless wiretapping as the sole exception. There is no other limit to this power, no appeal process, and no judicial review. (How many companies would *not* fit into this elastic definition? Wouldn't your IP list qualify too?)
Now, I'm sure that DHS's defenders (Stewart Baker, are you reading this?) will say that we should trust the department and that it would not misuse this near-absolute authority. And they have a point. But that's a little like making it illegal to breathe and then trusting prosecutorial discretion to only put truly bad guys in prison. :)