Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Tom Carper, D-Del, introduced a cybersecurity bill Thursday that would prevent the president or any federal employee from shutting down the Internet.
The 2011 Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act would amend the 2002 Federal Information Security Act and set limits on what the government can do to protect information infrastructure.
“Our bill contains additional protections to explicitly prevent the president from shutting down the Internet,” Collins said in a released statement. “While experts question whether anyone can technically ‘shut down’ the Internet in the United States, our bill has specific language making it crystal clear that such actions are expressly prohibited.”
Among the other key provisions, it would create national center to “prevent and respond to cyber attacks,” require critical infrastructure owners to shore up cyber vulnerabilities, and establish a strategy to secure the federal IT supply chain, Lieberman said.
View the updated legislation.
