Senate To Consider Intrusive Cybersecurity Bill

Sen. Lieberman never gave up the fight for Big Brother

Sen. Joseph Lieberman spent years fighting unsuccessfully for a so-called Internet kill switch that would grant the president vast power over private networks during a "national cyberemergency."

Now Lieberman (I-Conn.), who did not seek re-election, is hoping a more modest version of his proposal will be approved before he leaves office in January. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has inserted the cybersecurity bill into the Senate's post-election calendar, and a vote could happen as early as this week after debate on a proposal to open more public land for hunting and fishing.

That move has reignited a long-simmering dispute over privacy, regulation, and cybersecurity, with Republicans saying Lieberman's bill is overly regulatory, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce calling it deeply "flawed." Civil liberties groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation oppose Lieberman's bill on privacy grounds, warning that it gives "companies new rights to monitor our private communications and pass that data to the government."