Senate Bill 773: President Obama May Control Private Computer Systems

Senate Bill 773 - Cybersecurity Act of 2009 will give the President the authority to take control of private industry computer networks during a self declared cyber emergency. In an attempt to ensure the security of government and critical infrastructure from the threat of a takeover of the Internet, Democratic Senator Rockefeller from West Virginia has re-introduced Senate Bill 773. The stated intent of this bill is to: "Ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cybersecurity defenses against disruption, and for other purposes."

This intent sounds like something that our country needs. Our nation has become dependant on computers, computer networks and the Internet which may pose a threat to our national and personal security. Computer and Internet fraud is a major problem in America causing individual Americans and private industry leaders to work towards improving the level of security. Individual Americans are afraid of their identities being stolen and companies constantly fight to keep their financial information and work product from being compromised.

Senate Bill 773 bill proposes many positive steps to be taken in the fight against computer crime and possible hostile takeovers of the government infrastructure. This bill proposes the creation of a national strategy to coordinate federal and private cybersecurity efforts. Senate Bill 773 mandates licensing and certification of cybersecurity professionals and it creates a public awareness campaign to educate the public about cybersecurity risks.

The opposition to this bill is that it contains vague language that grants the President overly broad authority over not only government computer systems, but also private industry systems. While it's true that Americans fear the impact of computer crime, they are more afraid of the government violating their privacy.

Section 18 of Senate Bill 773 gives the President of the United States the authority to take over or even shut down private networks that are deemed by him and him alone as "critical infrastructure" when he declares a "cybersecurity emergency." While this may sound reasonable, many people question this broad and unlimited authority because of the bill's definition of "critical infrastructure."

Critical infrastructure is defined in section 3 of this bill as, "Federal Government information systems and networks; and State, local, and nongovernmental information systems and networks in the United States designated by the President as critical infrastructure information systems and networks." With this broad definition of "critical infrastructure", American companies and citizens are rightfully concerned that any computer system could be defined as "critical infrastructure."

Again using this broad definition of critical infrastructure, this bill requires private companies to share their computer information with the government if their system has been defined as critical infrastructure. This sharing of information is not in responses to a "cybersecurity emergency" such as it is with the Presidential takeover. Section 14 of this bill creates a "public - private clearinghouse" that gives the Secretary of Commerce access to "all relevant data concerning such networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting access." This bill also states that the rules and procedures for the sharing of information with the federal government will not be posted until 90 days after the bill is enacted.

Cybersecurity is a real threat to the government, private industry and to individual Americans. While Senate Bill 773 proposes many positive solutions to this problem, it also grants the president too much authority with too little oversight. In order for American citizens to accept Senate Bill 773 it will need to contain clearer definitions and greater limits on the government's intrusion into private computer systems.

Sources:

S.773 - Cybersecurity Act of 2009

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s773/text