By Jennifer Granick, Civil Liberties Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
National commitment to cybersecurity is welcome, but government control of the internet is not. This morning's White House-issued cybersecurity proposals seem to recognize this distinction and are therefore vastly preferable to the Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity Act introduced into Congress last month.
Today, President Obama announced that he would create a White House-level position of "cyber czar" to coordinate and oversee federal efforts to improve network security and response to cyber attacks. At the same time, the White House released a cybersecurity report giving more specific proposals for how the federal government can improve the security of our national networks. Together, the proposals credit the importance of protecting both the network and civil liberties, though the devil will be in the details.