Lieberman's Cybersecurity Bill Heads To Senate Vote

摘要

The Senate Homeland Security Committee marked up a comprehensive cybersecurity defense measure that critics claim gives the president a "kill switch" to shut down the Internet if the president declares a national emergency. But that's not accurate, said the bill's authors, who say it actually limits presidential power that already exists to halt Internet traffic. An analysis of the marked up version of the bill, S-3480, provided by the Center for Democracy and Technology, says it clarifies the definition of critical infrastructure to systems whose disruption would cause a high number of fatalities, severe economic consequences, mass evacuations with a prolonged absence or severe degradation of national security capabilities. It also limits to 120 days (in 30-day periods) the duration of a national emergency declared by the president, said CDT. The bill would establish a national cybersecurity center and a formal cybersecurity czar appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. It also requires owners of infrastructure deemed critical to the nation to adopt a range of security measures that they would choose to meet security requirements.