Below is the text of the letter I sent via Congress.org to my elected federal representatives.
I write to you today to argue against passing the so-called Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act or PCNAA.
This bill would form a powerful new Homeland Security bureaucracy including not less than two deputy directors, and liaison officers to the Defense Department, Justice Department, Commerce Department, and the Director of National Intelligence.
The NCCC would be granted the power to monitor the “security status” of private sector Web sites, broadband providers, and other Internet components. Selected private companies would be required to participate in “information sharing” with the Feds. A new attempt to ignore Civil Liberties and Due Process.
The prospect of a vast new cyber-security bureaucracy with power to command the private sector worries some privacy advocates. “This is a plan for an auto-immune reaction… when something goes wrong, the government will attack our infrastructure and make society weaker,” says Jim Harper, director of information studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.
TechAmerica said it was concerned about “unintended consequences that would result from the legislation’s regulatory approach” and “the potential for absolute power” – do I really need to write out the obvious and relevant quote? And the Center for Democracy and Technology publicly worried that the bill’s emergency powers “include authority to shut down or limit Internet traffic on private systems.“
It is an abomination to a free and democratic society.
It is an affront to the dignity of the American people.
It is government paranoia writ large.
It is a travesty almost as evil as the falsely-labeled Patriot Act.
And it is an incredible waste of Senate time in the face of continuing high unemployment; a distraction to hide the failure of “Democrats” to stand up to neo-con lies and deception.
Sincerely,”
