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September 3, 2009

Remember... This is all meant to frighten you into silence!!!

We've talked about this with This Post.
Mammon over at Why ruin a good story with the truth? referred me to a post with a few more details on this story, thanks to WorldNetDaily.

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
Will bill give Obama control of Internet?
Proposed new powers called 'drastic federal intervention'
By Drew Zahn
First, the White House, through the national cybersecurity advisor, shall have the authority to disconnect "critical infrastructure" networks from the Internet – including private citizens' banks and health records, if Rockefeller's examples are accurate – if they are found to be at risk of cyber attack. The working copy of the bill, however, does not define what constitutes a cybersecurity emergency, and apparently leaves the question to the discretion of the president.

Second, the bill establishes the Department of Commerce as "the clearinghouse of cybersecurity threat and vulnerability information," including the monitoring of private information networks deemed a part of the "critical infrastructure."

Third, the legislation proposes implementation of a professional licensing program for certifying who can serve as a cybersecurity professional.

And while the critics concede the need for increased security, they object to what is perceived as a dangerous and intrusive expansion of government power.

A pair of bills introduced in the U.S. Senate would grant the White House sweeping new powers to access private online data, regulate the cybersecurity industry and even shut down Internet traffic during a declared "cyber emergency."

Senate bills No. 773 and 778, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., are both part of what's being called the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which would create a new Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, reportable directly to the president and charged with defending the country from cyber attack.

A working draft of the legislation obtained by an Internet privacy group also spells out plans to grant the Secretary of Commerce access to all privately owned information networks deemed to be critical to the nation's in frastructure" without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access."

Privacy advocates and Internet experts have been quick to sound the alarm over the act's broadly drawn government powers.

"The cybersecurity threat is real," says Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which obtained the draft of S.773, "but such a drastic federal intervention in private communications technology and networks could harm both security and privacy."

"The whole thing smells bad to me," writes Larry Seltzer in eWeek, an Internet and print news source on technology issues. "I don't like the chances of the government improving this situation by taking it over generally, and I definitely don't like the idea of politicizing this authority by putting it in the direct control of the president."

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UPDATE

On Facebook, MySpace? Obama's got your e-mail
White House spammer-in-chief wants contractor to track critics
By Chelsea Schilling





The White House is hiring a contractor to harvest information about Americans from its pages on social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

The National Legal and Policy Center, or NLPC, revealed the White House New Media team is seeking to hire a technology vendor to collect data such as comments, tag lines, e-mail, audio and video from any place where the White House "maintains a presence" – for a period of up to eight years.

"The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP (Executive Office of the President) on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA (Presidential Records Act) maintains a presence," the posting states.













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25 comments:

cbullitt said...

This guy makes Nixon look like a 3rd-grade truant.

On another note of authoritarian dogma--and a righteous beat down--my morning post is above the headline at Climate Depot. I should link them more often.

Anonymous said...

Cbull, great placement for a great post. Keep fighting the fight, my man.

Snarky Basterd said...

Well, ya know, Nickie, every time one of us writes a blog post, we're committing cybersecurity threats. So I'm guessing Obugger has to have some little way to shut us down.

LL said...

They need to silence opposition. The state-run media has been co-opted. Fox is being buoyed by ratings but slammed by critics and Dear Leader's people are pushing to remove sponsors.

The next logical move would be (gulp) us.

Anonymous said...

Doc,

They are well aware that fishy.gov and cyber-spying will intimidate many. Keep posting. Keep writing.

Anonymous said...

Your hate will be stopped. Peace will triumph ovver your hate.

Anonymous said...

LL...

Us? Do you have a mouse in your pocket, white man?

Seriously, it seems to me that, by constantly threatening free speech, Obama is building his own army of enemies.

Anonymous said...

Non, let me answer you by borrowing your logic.

Your 'Peace' will be stopped. Love will triumph over your 'Peace'.

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

Me thinks the White House is a wee bit paranoid. Guys, Watch those IRS audits !

Anonymous said...

Woody, the IRS is above corruption.

Who in their right mind could ever believe that the IRS could be used for political purposes?

Lynnae said...

The quote given makes me think of Hayak saying in 'The Road to Serfdom' That the government would become so intrusive that legislators would seem to be slow, indecisive and incompetent, so more decisions would be put in the lap of the president, a beauracracy, or a person outside the legislative branch. (czars, anyone?)

"Second, the bill establishes the Department of Commerce as "the clearinghouse of cybersecurity threat and vulnerability information," including the monitoring of private information networks deemed a part of the "critical infrastructure."

Anonymous said...

Jane, I agree. The co-conspirators are the legislators who deliberately act slowly and cryptically in order the stay below the radar.

That's why our cowardly Republican reps are so ineffectual and hard to find.

**FrAn** said...

Ola... Obrigada por acompanhar meu blog, prometo comentar em inlgês na próxima

thanks

Opus #6 said...

Tyranny will reach new heights in America with this administration.

Anonymous said...

Lorah,

Gracias!

Anonymous said...

Opie, I'd only disagree that they'll reach new depths.

Snarky Basterd said...

Damn, Nickie...I'm sorry I had that b.s. post about the finger biter when you arrived. Here's what you probably would have enjoyed more.

Teresa said...

I agree with Opie. Tyranny will reach massive new levels under this administration. Because of Americans' stupidity in voting for hope and change, we now have a bunch of commies and fascists in the White House that want to silence citizens(US) making a difference in opposing Obama's plans.

Anonymous said...

Dave, GREAT POST. Pretty soon we'll be pressing you to produce a book.

Anonymous said...

Terri... Remember this: If they were making their case effectively, they wouldn't have to resort to threats and intimidation.

Anonymous said...

@NG: THANK YOU! No one can say it better than that! I'm so happy to be in all of your company exept the Ano who have skipped church and come here to leave a comment ;)

I'm sure that this blog is watched closely from the Big Brother and all of us are already marked. I'm out of the country now and on the way back if they send me directly to Guantanamo I'll let you know to bring me some smokes and twinkies! :))

Starsplash said...

Nicki for president......no.........me for president..........no..............MWAHAHAHA!

Anonymous said...

Mammon, if Obama is keeping an enemies list, somebody on his staff is getting writer's cramp.

Anonymous said...

Starsplash... You be the President. I want to be Deputy Vice Ambassador to Italy.

Starsplash said...

:D:D:D