United States Senators have said it is unlikely that Cyber security legislation will pass this year as the 111th Congress comes to an end.
Recognizing that critical infrastructure of the United States depends on computer and network systems, legislators are debating what powers should be given to the U.S. President to respond to, and handle situations such as cyber attacks.
Countries like the United Kingdom and the United States have expressed concerns that some critical systems (health, transport, defense etc.) could be affected by cyber attacks launched by cyber criminals or rogue states. Lawmakers in the U.S. are looking to pass new legislation that would give the President powers to handle attacks from the Internet or threats of attacks, but say that any legislation is unlikely to pass this year.
“I’m not optimistic of major cyber security legislation passing at this late time.” Republican staff director on the Senate Intelligence Committee Louis Tucker said. “Considering the objections to some of the cyber bills out there, comprehensive legislation will probably have to wait until next year.”
A piece of legislation backed by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Tom Carper, D-Del has some privacy activists concerned. ACLU legislative counsel Michelle Richardson said the problem is the legislation fails to specify the powers it wants to grant to the President.
Defense News reports that the bill states: “The president would be granted emergency measures to protect the nation’s most critical infrastructure if a cyber vulnerability is being exploited or is about to be exploited.” Aides to the sponsoring Senators have said the bill does not authorize the government to take over critical infrastructure.
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Result for: news reports
This morning the Chinese government blocked access to the popular video sharing site YouTube after over 20 videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the site.
The protests, which occurred in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on Friday, were against Chinese rule. The government has been blocking news broadcasts since the protests in an effort to control what the public knows about the events.
The videos were mainly of foreign news reports and montages of photos taken from the scene. The Chinese government has not yet officially confirmed that they have blocked the site, but Chinese citizens trying to access the site are met with a blank screen.
China has the second largest amount of Internet users at 210 million and is expected to soon surpass the US for largest population of internet users.
This news follows recent decisions by other countries to Block access to YouTube. Last month Pakistan blocked access because of “anti-Islamic” postings. Late last year Turkey made a similar move but the access was only blocked for a couple of days.
Result for: news reports
According to the French newspaper Les Echos, Microsoft officials have suggested that a third generation of its popular Zune media player is in the works and that a European launch of the player is coming in 2009.
The Zune, available since late 2006, has been a North American-only product so far despite repeated news reports and rumors that a launch in Europe is coming.
The new rumor, fueled by Microsoft France executive François Ruault, says the company will be releasing the Zune in France in 2009.
We will keep you updated.
