LiebIerman bill lets president take emergency control of the Internet

[Dave Farber <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
> Date: June 11, 2010 1:01:47 PM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Lieberman bill lets president take emergency control of the Internet

> Dave,
>
> IPers might be interested in the bill that Sen. Lieberman introduced yesterday:
> http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=4ee63497-ca5b-4a4b-9bba-04b7f4cb0123
>
> Here's an excerpt from my writeup:
>
> http://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. :)
>
> -Declan



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