Following in the proud, wide, footsteps of SOPA and PIPA, the US Senate is set to vote on another internet regulation bill this week — and the web is worrying already. Justified? Maybe. Unfortunately, the public isn’t allowed to read it.
The Hill reports that the bill deals with private networks — say, Amazon’s S3 or Apple’s iCloud — in the event that they’re compromised or under attack. Some in private IT security are fretting:
Bob Dix, vice president of government affairs and critical infrastructure protection at Juniper Networks said the bill’s language suggests DHS could seize control of systems owned by private firms and cloud providers.
“The provision that establishes covered critical infrastructure presumes to give DHS new authority, that in my mind is overly broad, subject to interpretation and frankly goes beyond the boundaries of the role of government,” Dix said, calling some of the new authorities “very scary.”
Homeland Security “seizing” parts of the internet sure does sound scary, but then again, people like Dix have a deep financial interest in legislation like this — the government doing his job for him means lost dollars. He doesn’t want to be boxed out.
But for those of us without a moneyed stake in this, should we care? Of course. Congress has already displayed a historically slippery grasp on tech issues, and the willingness to clamp down online via dubious due process. And of course, any bill kept hidden from the public is a giant, waving red flag — legislation should never be in the shade.
I hit up Senator Joe Lieberman’s office — Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security — to answer some questions about how the bill works, but have yet to hear back. Sometime before the Senate votes on it would be ideal. [The Hill]
Photo: AP
Sowhatmeh
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 6:45 AMOh wow, american government is going the distance this time eh?
It seems the way american companies make money i guess, sueing people left and right
Antonia
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 6:59 AMIs it really any different from the time Britain imposed a tax on windows (as in the glass sort in your walls)?
darylcheshire
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 8:01 AMI’m concerned for the cloud.
If a company goes pear-shaped your data is at risk
light487
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 8:23 AMLet’s turn the sky red.. it’s been blue too long.. heck with the consequences and the how we are going to do that.. it needs to be done because it’s moving forward..
Noddy
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9:31 AMI said this would happen when SOPA got canned, this is just the kind of thing that will give them a back door to get similar legislation to SOPA through the back door. I think maybe it’s time to build a second internet that is entirely open and free from stupidity like the US Government!
Knifeyspooney
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 1:27 PMmy thoughts exactly, we’ll call it the outernet and bar out the stupid american government. we’ll need to begin with a kickstarter project to get funding on components to build it.
SSF2T
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:38 AMYou should use this opportunity to raise the issue of the lack of human right protection in Australia. We lack a bill of right and unlike the US, our constitution contains very little in the way of protection. Its been sheer luck rather than good planning so far that Australians havnt had their rights squashed.
Edes
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 2:23 PM+1 We Australians need a bill of rights to ensure that these kinds of policies don’t get lumped onto us as well.