Should Obama's 'internet kill switch' power be curbed?

BBC News, Washington ^ | 24 November 2010 | Daniel Nasaw

[Bad~Rodeo]

Under a World War II-era law, the US president appears to have authority to disconnect computer systems and servers from the internet in the event of a national emergency. But the next US Congress is poised to change that.

The law was passed in 1942. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour had provoked fear of a foreign invasion on US soil, and Congress responded by giving President Franklin Roosevelt broad power to commandeer or shutter telephone and telegraph networks.

Nearly 70 years later, telegraph networks have disappeared, and the telephone is only one of many means of communication.

But although the 1942 law makes no mention of the internet - merely of "any facility or station for wire communication" - the Obama administration in June told Congress it would cite it in an emergency.

It has not been tested in court, but experts say section 706(d) of the Communications Act could give the president wide-ranging authority to shut down key computer systems.

With typical Washington hyperbole, the law has become known as the presidential "internet kill switch".

'Clear rules needed'

The next US Congress will be under pressure to strengthen the nation's cyber defences, and a spectrum of security analysts, internet freedom advocates and senators say lawmakers must update those emergency war powers to limit or at the very least more clearly define the president's authority.

"The time is ripe for some articulation of this authority so we don't have presidents going off into the wild, but actually have a set of pretty clear rules," said Paul Rosenzweig, a former homeland security official under President George W Bush, now a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Uncertainty over the interpretation of the current laws has left analysts speculating about how the president would use the

[1010RD]

Bad law - scrap it.

[ShadowAce]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Bad~Rodeo and ShadowAce. Nahhh! What for?

• DHS and TSA taking names of critics
• Rush: Obama groping flyers to punish them for voting GOP -- 'This is all about control...
• U.S. Supreme Court confers on Obama eligibility
• DOJ and the New Black Panther Party Litigation: An Interim Report
• Z STREET's legal battle continues against IRS -- "Z Street was told by an IRS agent that it might not be granted 501(c)(3) status, which would allow the group to be tax exempt, because its position toward Israel differs from the Obama administration's official policies."
• Pyongyang TV Spits Bile; N.Korea Envoy Issues Threat on NY Street re: Further Attacks on South (TV)
• Zogby:How low will he go? Obama hits 39% job approval
• Zogby Interactive: Obama Falls to 39%, As Support from Democrats Continues to Slide

[CommerceComet]

You have to have a law like this. Some things the people shouldn't know. Like when the model of the Master Race is getting the stuffing kicked out of him by an inferior race, the communications plug has to be pulled. What else is a dictator to do? He cannot be shown to be wrong or allowed to be criticized. Just can't. It wouldn't be good for the people. It wasn't in 1940s and it isn't now.

BTW, in case your sarcasm meter is low on batteries, the above paragraph was sarcasm.