re LiebIerman bill lets president take emergency control of the Internet

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Randall <rvh40 () insightbb com>
> Date: June 11, 2010 2:36:49 PM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>, Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] LiebIerman bill lets president take emergency control of the Internet

> On Jun 11, 2010, at 1:44 PM, Dave Farber wrote:
>
> > > 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. 
> > > :)
>
> In a true "Emergency", the President is going to do what the President wants to do, and no law or "damned piece of 
> paper" is going to stop him.   Even in a fake emergency, the last President warrantlessly wiretapped untold millions 
> of phone conversations despite the clear statutory and case law prohibitions on such action - and only Qwest refused 
> to go along with his illegal request.   (In completely-unrelated news, the then-CEO of Qwest is currently serving a 
> prison term for SEC violations.   Completely unrelated.   Of course.)



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