The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 Passes Senate Panel 367
An anonymous reader writes "The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 passed a Senate panel, giving the president unprecedented power to issue a nation-wide blackout or restriction on websites without congressional approval. The bill, written by Sen. Jay Rockefeller [D-WV] and revised by Sen. Olympia Snow [R-ME], was drafted in an attempt to thwart internet-based terrorist threats, and gives the president this 'kill switch' without oversight or explanation. The bill is up for Senate vote."
Re:Where are the technical people on /. (Score:3, Informative)
It would work just like martial law would effect TV and Radio.
All ISPs would be told to shut down a service in the specified area. Military personnel would show up at an ISP not complying and force compliance.
Declaring martial law has never happened in the US. Doing so would have huge negative political ramifications, as it should.
Re:Uh huh, terrororists (Score:3, Informative)
but much of the country actually relies on it for commerce and communication. If large portions are unavailable, the costs could be very large, especially if such a tactic is used in conjunction with other attacks.
Thankfully the courts don't take weeks to decide such matters. I'd rather see a few banks shut down for a day than the President granted the power the unilaterally muzzle communications.
Would you want your cops to stop an arson in progress, or should they be forced to go through the courts first?
Bad analogy. Cops don't need a warrant to arrest someone for a crime in progress. They do however need a warrant before they can interfere with/monitor that person's communications.
Removed (Score:3, Informative)
Taxes, RICO, PATRIOT Act, FAIRNESS, Internet, etc. (Score:4, Informative)
The 1913 US Tax law was a tax on only the top 1% of the population, the "wealthy". Now, the wealthy have tax dodges that allow them to pay less taxes than their maids, who often work at minimum wages. The resulting enforcement agency, the IRS, has been repeatedly used over the years as a political weapon, even more so than the Census Act. The use of the Census Act as a political weapon is rapidly gaining ground.
The RICO Act was created to fight organized crime, and a "promise" was made that it would "never" be used on ordinary citizens. Now, it is used over 10,000 times a year against ordinary citizens as a way to steal "guilty" property and as a supplemental funding source when law enforcement budgets are frozen or cut. The RICO Act provides that the law enforcement agencies can keep the property they stole even if it turns out that the "target" supplied by a jail house snitch seeking a "deal" was innocent.
The MOST UNPATRIOTIC law ever passed, the PATRIOT ACT, effectively destroys the Bill of Rights. The accused cannot tell anyone, including their spouse, that they've been accused, or of what they have been accused. They cannot face their accuser, nor can they see the "evidence" against them. They are tried in special courts. In fact, the PATRIOT Act RE-ESTABLISHES the conditions that were created in America by King George, prior to the Declaration of Independence. It's a slam-dunk convection when you cancel the Bill of Rights, especially when you add the infamous "perp walk" and the leaked "fact" news, all deliberately used to create an air of guilt for which there is often little or no real evidence. Toss in the self-appointed TV pundits, who act as judge, jury and executioner, and the accused is forever tainted. Fear of terrorist attacks have resulted in a law which cannot guarantee safety and has destroyed the Constitution. Like the Tax law and the RICO act, it is only a matter of time before future politicians use it for political purposes. So now, the US citizen has neither safety nor freedom and bribed Congressmen steadfastly refuse to identify or accept the power base of Jihadist threats in America, and persist in wasting American blood and treasure in Mid-East energy wars while Oil Companies continue to make record profits on oil and lobby to suppress alternate energy development in order to sustain their profit margins.
The FAIRNESS Doctrine was never about fairness. It was created as a political weapon. The political center and Right has always had a larger base in the US and, as Sen Franken found out, the Left cannot sustain a sufficiently large enough audience or advertiser base to support a national radio talk show preaching Socialist/Communist/Marxist values. When businesses failed to purchase sufficient ad time and devoted listeners failed to donate enough money, Air America failed. Not to worry! The Left has been successful in getting its message out by hijacking public radio and TV and subverting tax payer funds to sponsor "independent" films and guests, which focus on Marxist themes. The kinds of themes championed by ACORN or other Left Wing alphabet groups. Combine the always Leftists Indie films with mindless, talentless "Create" themes, and constant public service announcements against "hate speech" (which is any speech against Leftist ideology), and you have the complete brain washing paradigm. The stories about America's National Parks, etc., although inspirational, are mainly fillers, to maintain an air of neutrality.
Now we are going to be "protected" by selectively shutting down the only source of free public discourse remaining in this country, the Internet. The Internet bypassed the magazine and newspaper editors and their management of the "news". What was true in the USSR (there is no news in the Truth and no Truth in the news) had become true in America. The Internet bypassed single points of focus of government control or of editorial agendas. Now, the EXACT same method used in China by the Chinese Communist Party to control thei
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:3, Informative)
You can make a Nazi salute or deny the Holocaust in EU, but just not in Germany. And it was the US that put those laws in place there after WWII.
Not that I disagree though, there are still free speech issues that need to be worked out within EU countries. However it's generally a problem within those single countries, not whole EU in general.
Re:Obama certainly deserves criticism here, but.. (Score:3, Informative)
How can Obama deserve criticism here?
A bill with the support of a Republican Senator and a Democratic Senator in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has been introduced to the Senate that will have to be passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives before it gets anywhere near Obama.
Why is a bill coming out of committee such a big deal?
Much More Than What It Appears To Be (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Uh huh, terrororists (Score:3, Informative)
I know there are some VERY archaic laws on the books in all states, but sex toys are a fairly modern things, no? Did someone pass anti-vibrator laws in the past 3-4 decades?
That depends on what you call sex toys and what "fairly modern" is. What we'd call sex toys today were being made in the 1800s. Vibrators [wikipedia.org] were being used in the 1880s, as a medical device. The first one was invented in 1869. Kama Sutra [wikipedia.org] which is thousands of years old talks about using sex aids or toys [spaceandmotion.com]. Dildos come from around 1400. The Brief History of Sex toys [mypleasure.com] has more info.
So, what do you mean by "sex toys are a fairly modern things"?
Falcon