Senate Narrowly Votes Down Cybersecurity Act Again, Obama Signs Secret DirectiveEric Blair The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, first introduced in 2010 by Joe Lieberman, was quickly dubbed the Internet Kill Switch Bill because of the power it gives to the executive branch to seize or shut down parts of the Internet in a cyber emergency. At the timeLieberman justified this draconian power grab by saying, Right now, China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in a case of war. We need to have that here, too. Heres the interview where he made these statements along with some commentary on why this policy is so dangerous: Section 249 of the bill states that the President may issue a declaration of a national cyber emergency to covered critical infrastructure, in which case a response plan is implemented. This plan shall consist of measures or actions necessary to preserve the reliable operation, and mitigate or remediate the consequences of the potential disruption, of covered critical infrastructure. (Source) It seems that Defense Secretary Leon Panettas warnings of a cyber Pearl Harbor or 9/11 and DHS Head Janet Napolitanos urgent warnings after Hurricane Sandy were not strong enough fear mongering to move this law forward. Just before Obamas re-election we wondered how long it would take for him to pull the trigger on his cybersecurity executive order;this persistent manufactured urgency would seem to indicate that they will not wait for Congress to pass a cybersecurity law. Rather, they will likely bypass the Constitution and dictate their authority to control the Internet by having Obama sign an executive order instead. And before yesterdays vote, Lieberman assured us that would happen when hewarned that if Senate didnt act on cybersecurity, Obama will:Im confident that if we fail to act, the president will act, Lieberman said. I think he has a responsibility to act because if we dont were leaving the American people extremely vulnerable to a cybersecurity attack. The HillstatesWednesdays vote opens the door for the White House to issue the executive order it started crafting after the Senate bill failed in August. Indeed, Obama is fully expected to sign the executive order as he told lawmakers in August, inaction would be the height of irresponsibility and it would leave a digital backdoor wide open to our cyber adversaries. Perhaps Obama will sign it in the wee hours of New Years Eve as he did with the controversial NDAA last year. This way the countless year-end fluff stories by the corporate media will drown out any criticism. Unfortunately, this is just one of many threats to the free and open Internet. UPDATE: The Washington Post is reporting that Presidential Obama signed a secret cybersecurity presidential directive: Presidential Policy Directive 20. Apparently this directive was signed in October: Presidential Policy Directive 20 establishes a broad and strict set of standards to guide the operations of federal agencies in confronting threats in cyberspace, according to several U.S. officials who have seen the classified document and are not authorized to speak on the record. The president signed it in mid-October. The new directive is the most extensive White House effort to date to wrestle with what constitutes an offensive and a defensive action in the rapidly evolving world of cyberwar and cyberterrorism, where an attack can be launched in milliseconds by unknown assailants utilizing a circuitous route. For the first time, the directive explicitly makes a distinction between network defense and cyber-operations to guide officials charged with making often-rapid decisions when confronted with threats. 