You’ve probably heard or read some of the breathless corporate media reports in the past few days about "cyber attacks" against the U.S. government.
Is all this a propaganda blitz to grease the skids for passage of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009? If passed, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 will allow the U.S. President to shut down the internet and will give the government authority to demand security data from private networks without regard to any regulation, law, rule or policy restricting that access.
It’s no coincidence that this PR push is being executed just Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, who intimated that maybe we’d all be better off if the internet was never invented (of course, he doesn't MEAN it, wink, wink), plans a committee vote on cybersecurity legislation he introduced with Sen. Olympia Snowe in April.
According to Congress Daily, the Rockefeller bill would require the White House to create an Office of the National Cybersecurity Adviser within the Executive Office of the President and an advisory panel of experts from industry, academia and the NGOs. In May, Barack Obama pledged to personally select a "cyber czar" who would report to the National Security Council and National Economic Council.
Enjoy the free and democratic internet as we know it today. With these kinds of forces arrayed against it, the free Internet’s days are numbered.