A few weeks ago I commented on some ridiculous “informed consent” cyber-security bill. At least one commenter reacted to my claim that this sort of thing is the first step down a perilously slippery slope, saying essentially: look, this is no big deal. Granted, I conceded that in my post. There are plenty of smart and industrious people in the world who’d be more than willing to reverse-engineer the crap out of the software “feature” required by the cyber-security bill, and they would likely distribute this patch, so the effort seems like a dead letter. Fine. I stand by the underlying thesis, however, and I’m not sure how I didn’t hear about another bill making its way through Teh Government, which would grant the president unprecedented cyber security powers.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 introduced in the Senate would allow the president to shut down private Internet networks. The legislation also calls for the government to have the authority to demand security data from private networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access.
I’m not sure how anyone, once vested with this sort of power, could possibly refrain from abusing it.
I sometimes wonder if the Government does not like themselves. Do you think they ever ask the question "if I was not in the Government would I like this bill?"
They never would. Most of them live in this ideological world where they are trying to appease their constituents without really thinking of the long term impacts, possible abuses, etc (just like their constituents). To them, it's just words that are going to be enforced by other individuals and so they can say "Hey look! I'm doing something!" Idiots.
"I’m not sure how anyone, once vested with this sort of power, could possibly refrain from abusing it."
Especially then that person is the one who signed it into law!
My opinion is that, since this deals with restricting someone (the owner or owners of the network) from utilizing his own property, using this power IS abusing this power. The simple fact that the "leaders" of government think they have this authority should show any doubters that the system has run amok.