Codebreaker

Collins, Lieberman, Carper introduce cybersecurity bill without "kill switch".

John Moe Feb 18, 2011

This is the bill that everyone was saying had a “kill switch” for the president to shut off the internet. The bill dropped late last night does NOT have a kill switch option.

Lieberman says in the press release:

“We want to clear the air once and for all. As someone said recently, the term ‘kill switch” has become the ‘death panels’ of the cybersecurity debate. There is no so-called ‘kill switch’ in our legislation because the very notion is antithetical to our goal of providing precise and targeted authorities to the President. Furthermore, it is impossible to turn off the Internet in this country. This legislation applies to the most critical infrastructures that Americans rely on in their daily lives – energy transmission, water supply, financial services, for example – to ensure that those assets are protected in case of a potentially crippling cyber attack. Plus, the bill would also let the private sector entities appeal before a federal court whether their infrastructure can be designated by the Department of Homeland Security as “critical infrastructure.”

Click the link and you can see Collins and Lieberman having a laugh.

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