President's power to shut down Internet up in air

There are plenty of people inside and outside of government upset about legislation that would give President Obama the power to shut down the Internet under emergency situations. But the idea sounds vaguely like something that might happen in China or Iran, which recently tried to block Internet communications during its unrest with its citizens over election results.

A bill in the U.S. Senate will likely be rewritten and needs input from private businesses, according to a Senate aide involved in the legislation. The legislation contains "imperfect" language, said Ellen Doneski, chief of staff for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The bill allows the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic to and from any compromised federal government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network," according to Doneski. The sponsors of the bill are looking for input on that section and other parts of the bill, said Doneski, who works for Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV), who is sponsoring the legislation.

The idea to give the president this kind of power is antithetical to the kind of powers the president should have. But exactly what it means is not clear, according to Doneski.

"We were trying to state the obvious: In an extreme cyber emergency or attack, the president ultimately has constitutional authority to protect the country," she said at a conference. "It really wasn't meant to go beyond that."

For more on this legislation and presidential power:
- see this CIO.com article