Senate Commerce Committee Executive Session

The Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday voted to approve the Cybersecurity Act (S. 773), which would take steps to modernize and coordinate public/private efforts to protect networks and information in a broadband world filled with online threats at home and abroad. The Committee also passed the FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act (S. 2881) which would allow each Federal Communications Commission commissioner to appoint an electrical engineer or computer scientist to provide the commissioner technical consultation.

A chorus of alarmists is raising the specter of cyberwarfare and urging the militarization of the Internet to ensure our national security against online attacks. But failure to distinguish between real acts of war and other malicious behavior not only increases the risks of war, but also distracts us from more immediate threats such as online crime.

After months of revisions, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) released their latest Cybersecurity Act 2010, which would address the nation's flagging cyber-security efforts.

Three tech groups are fearful the Senate's forthcoming cybersecurity bill might prove so bureaucratic that they will not be able to innovate -- much less respond to emerging online threats -- as quickly as they would like.