Sound The Trumpet : Obama Quietly Gives Himself Power to Seize Internet

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“Obama Quietly Gives Himself Power to Seize Internet”
by Newsmax
July 17th, 2013

Another late-Friday afternoon release from the White House — this one on how agencies should communicate with the public in emergencies — has Internet privacy advocates crying foul over a possible power grab.

The executive order — “Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions” — was released last Friday in the late afternoon. The Friday before, the White House issued data showing that its payroll had increased 14.1 percent over the last year of the Bush administration.

President Barack Obama’s new order outlines procedures for government agencies to follow in preparing plans so they can communicate with “the public, allies, and other nations” should a national crisis occur, CNBC reports.

Essentially, it says the government can take control of private telecommunications technology, presumably including those used for the Internet, for government communications in an emergency.

“Under the Executive Order the White House has … granted the Department [of Homeland Security] the authority to seize private facilities when necessary, effectively shutting down or limiting civilian communications,” wrote the Electronic Privacy Information Center in a blog post.

This is what has Internet privacy advocates worried. They say the document represents a power grab on behalf of the federal government, CNBC reports.

They’re particularly concerned about language like this, from section 5.2(e): “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall … satisfy priority communications requirements through the use of commercial, Government, and privately owned communications resources, when appropriate.”

But White House officials told CNBC that the order does nothing more than update existing authority dating from a 1984 executive order signed by Ronald Reagan to reflect modern communications technology.

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