THREAT OF CYBER TERRORISM INFLUENCING LAWMAKERS

JIMMY PIRAINO
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

The revolution occurring in Egypt is sending waves of change across much of the world, and the United States is not immune.

Days before the protests and riots started, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak effectively shut off the Internet to the entire country, the rationale being, “Kill the Internet, kill the dissent.” While, ultimately, the shutdown of the Internet failed to suppress the protesters, it did spark some new controversy in the U.S.

Senator Susan Collins, the ranking Republican of the homeland security and Governmental Affairs committee, first introduced an Internet “kill switch” bill in December of last year. “The bill is designed to protect against ‘significant’ cyber threats before they cause damage,” Collins said.

Much of the popular news surrounding this “kill switch” bill suggests that the president will be given the power to entirely shut off the Internet in the U.S. The true objective of the bill, while not as Orwellian as initially believed, still gives a large amount of power to the president. The bill, if passed, will give President Barack Obama, or any president hereafter, the power to “demand turning off access to so-called ‘critical infrastructure’ where necessary.”

Many of the supporters of the bill are coming under flak for previous comments decrying Egypt’s misuse of power when shutting off the Internet.

With the reintroduction of the “kill switch” bill, Senator Joe Lieberman has also shown his support through a statement released earlier in the week. “We would never sign on to legislation that authorized the president, or anyone else, to shut down the Internet. Emergency or not, the exercise of such broad authority would be an affront to our Constitution,” Liberman said.

The statement failed to cover the fact that a provision in the bill will forbid the courts from reviewing any decision by the president to shut off the Internet. While there is indeed cause for concern, the bill has many hurdles to jump before becoming law.

With the reemergence of the bill, many civil liberty groups have publicly spoken out against the proposed legislation. Wired has reported “About two dozen groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Library Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Center for Democracy and Technology were skeptical enough to file an open letter opposing the idea.”