The 'cybersecurity bill' is back

By Norah Petersen

During the summer, a proposed “cybersecurity” bill co-sponsered by Senators Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins, and Tom Carper stirred up a large amount of controversy because of its provision that would allow the government to shut down portions of the internet for up to four months without congressional approval if a so-called "cyber emergency" occured. Now, senate democrats want to pass a larger “cybersecurity” bill that is based on the Lieberman/Collins/Carper bill, according to a Reuters article from last week:

“Capitol Hill staffers have made progress stitching together cybersecurity proposals into a huge bill, aides said, with Senate leadership putting it on their short list for passage this year…
..The bill is based largely on a measure that Senators Joseph Lieberman, Susan Collins and Thomas Carper wrote and a second drawn up by Senators John Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe.
The 200-plus page draft, which has not yet been released, is largely completed, although sticking points remain, according to a Senate aide familiar with the bill.”

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid apparently has made the bill a high priority:

“Senate Majority Harry Reid has put the measure on his list of top-priority bills to get through the Senate this year, the sources said…
...The bill could come up in the next four weeks, or it could be much later, aides said. “I know that Sen. Reid's office has been extremely engaged on it," said the first Senate aide. "Everybody would like to see this done yesterday."

The article, however, asserts that “stiff industry opposition and partisan tensions still make it unlikely comprehensive legislation will pass in 2010.” Hopefully that will prove to be true, but, then again, we were also told that Obamacare would never pass after the election of Scott Brown.