Senate Homeland Security Committee approves cybersecurity legislation – The Hill’s Hillicon Valley

Senate Homeland Security Committee approves cybersecurity legislation – The Hill's Hillicon Valley.

The Hill reports at the link above that:

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved a comprehensive cybersecurity bill on Thursday [6/24/10] after amending it to limit the president's authority in the event of a cyber emergency.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) would make the Department of Homeland Security responsible for protecting civilian networks in the government and private sector. The bill will now head to the full Senate for a vote, where it will likely be merged with other competing pieces of cybersecurity legislation.

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The original bill gave the president indefinite emergency authority to shut down private sector or government networks in the event of a cyber attack capable of causing massive damage or loss of life. An amendment passed Thursday limits that authority further, requiring the president to get Congressional approval after controlling a network for 120 days.

The so-called "kill switch" is not the only controversial provision in the bill. The choice of lead agency for cyber security has also fostered heated debate.

Senator Lieberman's office posted this press release: COMMITTEE ADOPTS COMPREHENSIVE CYBERSECURITY LEGISLATION.

The bill is The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, S.3480. I have not finished reading the bill, which is 197 pages long.  So far, there is no Congressional Research Service analysis of the bill, and the most recent version posted by the Government Printing Office does not yet include the amendment mentioned above.