Internet Interrupted

Does that scenario frighten you?

It's about to become your very real nightmare if President Obama has his way with us in the name of "national security."

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. 

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773, which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

Intrepid CBS reporter Declan McCullagh presses four important questions that the Senate must answer before this awful bill is made into law:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Query from CBS News re: revised Rockefeller/Cybersecurity Act / S.773
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:20:11 -0700
From: Declan McCullagh
Reply-To: declan@cbsnews.com
Organization: CBSNews.com
To: charles_stewart@commerce.senate.gov

Charles,

Thanks for talking a minute ago. I'm reading a revised draft of the Cybersecurity Act/S.773 dated this month and had a few questions:

* The original version of the legislation allowed the National Cybersecurity Advisor to disconnect "critical" networks from the Internet. The revised version says the president can "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "nongovernmental" networks and "direct the national response to the cyber threat." That seems vague: does it mean the executive branch does or does *not* have the power to disconnect private networks?

* The revised version gives the executive branch 180 days to "implement" a "comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy" and 90 days to develop a plan to implement a "dashboard pilot project." But the mandated legal review won't be done until 1 year. Why not wait until the legal review is done before implementing a "comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy?"

* In Silicon Valley and the tech industry in general, lots of employees do not have formal training in computer security (they may studied math or physics, for instance) but nevertheless work in that area. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, don't have college degrees. Will the cybersecurity certification program be open to non-degreed people? And does the "certified service provider" extend to services like Gmail and Hotmail?

* One section says that private sector crit. infrastructure firms "shall share" certain information with the federal government. Is this open-ended, or are there limits to this requirement?

Thanks for your help!

Best,
Declan

If the Cybersecurity Act/S.773 had been the law of our land on 9/11, would it have been pushed into effect?

Certainly.

Would we have been able to get online and connect with each other?

Not likely.

Now -- with the rise of Twitter and Facebook and other social networks since the fall of the Twin Towers -- the first place we turn our eye in desperation is into the virtual company of others.

If the president takes us offline during the next terrorist attack -- does that cripple our ability to communicate in the ways we currently demand and expect because being online is now a part of us and that freedom to speak with each other at will is considered a coveted and sacrosanct right?

Or will we accept being disconnected -- because of a terrorist threat or a perceived or sensed attack that might be coming or might not -- all in the name of being good citizens in a world that will likely become more, not less, disconnected in the future?