This weekend, we look forward to another milestone in the power of computing, the iPad. It will take us to places we cannot now even imagine. It will, no doubt, take us further down the information highway. [Financial Times]
The importance of the internet was again underscored last weekend. As the roundup of members of the Hutaree Militia and other suspects across three states played out, no national news media reported it. But at least one local TV station ran with it and word of it also came to light on the internet. Cyberspace, as in the Iran crisis of last summer, had been the primary information source. Had there been a news blackout?
So how did presidential power grow to the point that Barack Obama can seek further power over the internet? Since long before 9/11, the executive branch of our government had grown far beyond the vision of the framers of the Constitution. [PBS] It is not easy to track research on the growth of Presidential powers because it is scattered through many disciplines. There is one amazing reference that brings it all together located at allbusiness.com. Other an invaluable list of references for research on the office itself may be found at cqpress.com.
Most recently The Patriot Act approved under the Bush Administration October 26, 2001, gave wide powers to law enforcement and to oversight by the executive branch:
The Act increases the ability of law enforcement agencies to search telephone, e-mail communications, medical, financial, and other records; eases restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the United States; expands the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those involving foreign individuals and entities; and broadens the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts. The act also expands the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorism, thus enlarging the number of activities to which the USA PATRIOT Act’s expanded law enforcement powers can be applied. [wikipedia]
When President Obama came to office January 2009, he already had powers reserved to him over the internet. Four months into his first term, he sought to extend Presidential power over the internet to include the power to shut it down in times of national emergency and cyber attack. Two bills were drafted and sent to Congress:
Sen. Jay Rockefeller introduced Senate bills 773 and 778 to give President Obama unlimited power of control over the Internet, including the power to shut it down. According to Infowars, Sen. Rockefeller declared last month that we would all be better off if the Internet was never invented. Sen. Rockefeller cites security concerns as the reason why the president needs infinite power over the Internet in America, however some people regard the bills as an attempt to erode free speech and free press rights. [NowPublic.com]
These bills, however, have undergone a sea change :
The new wording of the bill has removed unilateral power for the President to disconnect networks from the internet, which would essentially have let him pull the plug during a cyber attack.
Under the latest version of the bill, the President must work with organizations that own critical network infrastructure to come up with joint emergency response plans. The President must also decide with them which IT systems are most critical to national security. [infosecurity]
To continue to reap the benefits of the internet and the increased sophistication of the tools to deal with it such as the iPad, citizens need to be vigilant about what is being done to change the face of our relationship with it. Our banking, our information, our entertainment, our medical records are all internet-based. This is a critical area. Just ask the citizens of China.
________________________________
HotAir – It begins: GOP inching away from campaign to repeal ObamaCare
HotAir – Another ObamaCare mandate we had to discover after its passage
Diary of a Mad Conservative – Doctors with sidearms?
LisainTexa’s Blog – Patriot Declaration! At last something positive!
Ohiobelle – The Obama-holic Smear Campaign
HotAir – Gadget reviewers having out-of-body experiences over the iPad
LisaInTX
April 2, 2010
SH
Awesome report and some excellent informational link sources…:-)
Since the net is ran by “The powers that be”….I personally believe it will only be a matter of time when full control is given over to the corrupt ones.
I also do not think the danger lies so much from the net, but from an outside source that will interrupt ALL electrical grids.
(That the corrupt ones, will ‘ALLOW” a cyber attack in order to “prove to the world” that they should have more power is most likely not far off.)
The quotes below are soon to be a faint memory IMO…
“CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. ” ~ U.S. Constitution, Amendment 1
All we say to America is, “Be true to what you said on paper.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
samhenry
April 2, 2010
The old librarian here thought people could really use the link that brings things together from different disciplines. We all use information differently so it is not giving away the candy store to share. Good to see you!