Politics, mistrust, conspiracy theories stand in the way

By joltsik on Tue, 03/20/12 - 11:24am

It's been about a month since I last blogged about cybersecurity legislation so here's a brief review of where we stand.

Senators Lieberman (I-CT) and Collins (R- ME) got bipartisan support for the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (S.2105) in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee and introduced the bill for a Senate vote. Several other Senators voiced their disdain for this bill and subsequently introduced an alternative, the SECURE IT bill, which centered around a framework for public/private information sharing and eschewed the other bill's compliance mandates, oversight, and enforcement provisions. There was also a mock cyber attack staged in NYC to demonstrate the risks and consequences to Senators in a "real world" setting.

So where are we on cybersecurity legislation at this point? Who knows. There is probably a bit of back office deal making going on but we can't expect much real action due to partisan politics and an election year. Beside, cybersecurity is too esoteric and geeky for broad appeal. Why focus on cybersecurity when you can simply call your opponent to task on emotional issues gasoline prices, health care reform, or social issues?

The few Washington insiders truly focused on cybersecurity face an interesting and somewhat extreme debate as well. The most legitimate criticism I've heard as that the current Lieberman-Collins bill has too many loopholes. I agree but also believe it is a good foundation and should be considered a starting point rather than a perfect piece of legislation. In addition to this realistic concern however, here are a few of the other perspectives on cybersecurity legislation in general and this bill in particular:

1. President Obama wants to take over the Internet. Yes, and he wants to give it back to its rightful owner, Al Gore. Please!

...the remaining perspectives and the rest of the article can be found at Cyberwar Central.

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1. President Obama wants to take over the Internet. Yes, and he wants to give it back to its rightful owner, Al Gore. Please!

-Does this mean we should expect a carbon tax for internet use, given all the carbon emissions our ethernet and coax cables emit, and the heat our servers give off?

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You know E, I read somewhere once that a Class One Data Center draws as much power as a Steel Mill does per square foot. I'll go back and look that up later (got that whole being at work thing happening right now) for you.

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I once worked at a NOC when the AC went out.. now THAT was global warming..

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"I once worked at a NOC when the AC went out.. now THAT was global warming."

Well hopefully none of your co-workers decided to remove their pants to cope...had that happen at an event once, although I am pretty sure it was more alcohol induced than any fault in the HVAC system.

...sadly I am not kidding.

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Sounds hot.. pun intended..

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