Obama Internet kill switch plan approved by US SenateBy Grant Gross
Published: 11:02 GMT, 25 June 10
A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a cyberattack.
Senator Joe Lieberman and other bill sponsors have refuted the charges that the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act gives the president an Internet "kill switch." Instead, the bill puts limits on the powers the president already has to cause "the closing of any facility or stations for wire communication" in a time of war, as described in the Communications Act of 1934, they said ...
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The bill, introduced earlier this month, would establish a White House Office for Cyberspace Policy and a National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications, which would work with private US companies to create cybersecurity requirements for the electrical grid, telecommunications networks and other critical infrastructure.
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And, one of the reasons I support HF Ham radio. Maintaining a repeater that is also capable of being cross-connected to the PSTN and other bands and even to HF also would keep communications going in the even of unforeseen circumstances.
Besides, the cellular networks *do* become 'clogged' during any kind of emergency, including relatively minor events like big fires, ice storms/other local wx events and one of the reasons our local Fox TV network station still maintains their conventional UHF radio network (for chopper and ground ENG ops) - the facilities like cellular (or the 'internet') could fail, or, be cut off in the event of some sort of governmental emergency declaration. I have heard on more than one occasion then Fox ENG (Electronic News Gathering) reporter comment that "I can't get through on cellular".
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