Joe Lieberman’s law to shut down the Internet

According to Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Internet is a ‘US national asset’, and the US should have the power to shut it down on the basis of a ‘cyber 911'. Civil libertarians are furious.
The new bill is intended to give the US President the power to do just that. This power is intended to give CYBERCOM, the new US military cyber watchdog, the capabilities to defend the US against cyber attacks. CYBERCOM is also currently in the process of setting itself up.
These are very sweeping legislative powers, and international unease is already surfacing.Lieberman’s political position as an independent/ nominal Republican further confuses the issue in terms of its origins. He’s chair of the Homeland Security Commission, but that’s not a given power to make policy for a Democrat administration.

Criticism has been instant:

1. A major shutdown would seriously disrupt the world.
2. The rest of the world has a lot invested in its internet infrastructure, which was originally based on global phone lines, and has since evolved to work through other media. The internet may be a US idea originally, but the modern net is not US property.
3. There are a lot of core internet functions based in the US, based on demography. Arguably, that’s a weakness of itself. While the US has undeniably been the subject of constant cyber attack, being the place where all the targets are hasn’t helped.
4. The threats cited are nothing new. Cyber spies, cyber crime etc. are like a weather report.
5. Cyber attacks have escalated, but that’s in line with internet growth.
6. It’s not like other countries aren’t receiving attacks.
7. Nobody denies the US has a right to defend itself, or that the Internet was originally a US concept. But the world has changed. This is a global problem, and overall consensus is that it should have a global solution, with consultation, not a Cold War nuclear strike methodology.