S.3480,
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, introduced by Sens Lieberman, Collins and Carper
quietly passed committee last week on a voice vote and is now scheduled for debate on the US Senate floor. The controversial, nearly 200-page bill which amends the
Homeland Security Act of 2002 has been
criticized by civil liberties and industry groups alike, who say it grants the President the ability to order operators of “covered critical infrastructure” to disconnect parts of the Internet. Our reading of the bill agrees with these general criticisms. We are also concerned with specific effects on the Internet’s DNS and possible extraterritorial effects of the legislation.