National cybersecurity emergency, take contol of the Internet

Could Obama Rule The Web?

By Bob Parks
Friday, August 28, 2009

What do you think the response would be from our ideological counterparts if they found out George W. Bush could use the excuse of some national emergency to take control of the Internet? Whether or not it could really be done is another issue, but the libs would be having collective aneurysms.

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, which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

But if it’s Obama, they could live with that.

The new version would allow the president to “declare a cybersecurity emergencyâ€