I hope this is an April Fools joke! A bill has been proposed in the U.S. Senate that would empower the government to set and enforce security standards for private industry.

From the Washington Post: “Senate Legislation Would Federalize Cybersecurity”

The proposals, in Senate legislation that could be introduced as early as today, would broaden the focus of the government’s cybersecurity efforts to include not only military networks but also private systems that control essentials such as electricity and water distribution. At the same time, the bill would add regulatory teeth to ensure industry compliance with the rules, congressional officials familiar with the plan said yesterday.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV of W.Virginia and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, my home state.

On the face of it, this sounds good. A government agency who is responsible for monitoring and reacting in conjunction with other agencies in the event of an attack on our nations cyber-infrastructure.

But I am not in favor of a bigger government. Also, I think there is a lot of good going on in the private sector in regards to security. They don’t need regulation. I believe that Homeland Security already has authority to respond to threats and attacks on the internet. I prefer that legal due process remain in place and fear that a new agency would be given powers to circumvent the courts.

I guess we shall see how this turns out and I look forward to reading what more inteligent and thoughtful writers have to say about this idea.

Read the entire article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/31/AR2009033103684.html?nav=rss_nation/special