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Gird Your Blogs!
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News/Comment; Posted on: 2009-04-21 18:23:50 [ Printer friendly / Instant flyer ]
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Under “Cybersecurity,” Congress will be the internet’s greatest threat
by Brad O'Leary
Gird your blogs, because if liberals in Congress get their way,
President Obama will have sole discretionary authority to shut down the
Internet or critical parts of the Internet should he feel his
presidency is being tested. Worse, under the guise of cybersecurity,
Obama will essentially be granted the power to destroy free speech on
the web.
On April 1st of this year, Senators Rockefeller, Snowe, Bayh and Nelson
introduced bills S. 773 and S.778, collectively called the
Cybersecurity Act, which would give President Obama dictatorial power
over the Internet during a time of national crisis or emergency.
All of the bills’ sponsors voted for the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
of 2002 that prohibited organizations and individuals from running
advocacy ads against candidates 60 days in advance of a general
election. Now it seems these same people have conjured up a gag order
for the Internet.
According to the current drafts, under the Cyber Security Act of 2009
the President may “declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the
limitation or shut down of Internet traffic to and from any comprised
federal government or United States critical infrastructure information
system or network”. He may also “order the disconnection of any Federal
Government or United States critical infrastructure information systems
or networks in the interest of national security.”
What constitutes “cybersecurity emergency” or “critical infrastructure
information system or network” is left completely up to the President
to define. We know that the Administration, according to Rahm Emanuel,
never wants “a serious crisis to go to waste”. We also know the
Administration supports the regulation of free speech on the Internet.
President Obama’s choice to lead the powerful Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs is none other than Cass Sunstein, a radical Harvard
law professor and supporter of the Fairness Doctrine for the Internet.
According to Sunstein, “A system of limitless individual choices, with
respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of
citizenship and self-government.”
Obama campaign fundraiser and FCC Chair nominee, Julius Genachowski, is
a supporter of “Net neutrality”, the first step in applying the
Fairness Doctrine to the Internet.
“Net neutrality” proponents like Genachowski would have government
decide what content Internet operators and network owners must provide.
Incredibly, they claim this is to keep the Internet free and open to
all, when in reality, their goal is to usher the heavy hands of federal
regulators into the tent.
Stifling any venue where ideology competes with left-wing mainstream
media has always been a goal of the left and Obama. Obama has just been
more evasive in his means by supporting policies such as “net
neutrality” and wobbling on the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine
to talk radio. Liberal members of Congress are now set on sending
America on an unconstitutional b-line away from Uncle Sam and directly
to Big Brother.
The Cybersecurity Act is also includes a provision where “The
Department of Commerce shall serve as the clearinghouse of
cybersecuirty threat and vulnerability information to the Federal
Government and private sector owned
(emphasis mine) critical infrastructure information systems and
networks.” Shelving all privacy laws including the requirement for
warrants, the Secretary of Commerce “shall have access to all relevant
data concerning such networks without regard to any provision of law,
regulation, rule or policy restricting such access.” Senator
Rockefeller made it clear in his statement what “relevant data” this
act could include when he stated “We must protect our critical
infrastructure at all costs – from our water to our electricity, to
banking, traffic lights and electronic health records – the list goes
on.”
While we have worried about cyber attacks from Russia and China, who
would have thought the greatest threat would come from members of our
own Congress.
Source
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News Source: modernconservative.com
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