A US Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill to try to tighten cybersecurity to better protect US government agencies and businesses from Internet threats.

The text was unanimously approved and now moves to a full Senate vote.

"The status quo is not sustainable. We need a new model for the 21st century. We must secure America's critical networks, innovation and competitiveness in the global market," committee chair and cosponsor Jay Rockefeller said in a statement.

The Cybersecurity Act is a new draft of a bill introduced last year and was revised to take into account the views of more cybersecurity experts in the private sector, government and civil liberties community.

The bill would not allow the president to shut down the Internet unilaterally -- a revision to address critics of the prior bill who claimed it would provide that authority.

The proposal would require collaboration with the private sector in responding to a "cybersecurity emergency."

A "cybersecurity emergency" is defined as "a cyber event that is equivalent to an act of war, a terrorist attack, or a major natural disaster."

Another new provision in the bill would allow the president to provide security clearances to private sector officials to allow for the sharing of classified information.

A companion bill to the Cybersecurity Act calls for the creation of a post of National Cybersecurity Adviser at the White House which would require Senate confirmation.

President Barack Obama has cited cybersecurity as a national priority and named Howard Schmidt, a former Microsoft executive, as his cybsersecurity coordinator in December.

earlier related report
Senators form caucus on global Internet freedom
Washington (AFP) March 24, 2010 - A group of US senators Wednesday launched a bipartisan caucus aimed at promoting global Internet freedom, saying the Web should allow free speech and not be used by governments to crack down on dissent.

"Just as we stand against physical brutality of oppressive regimes, so too we must stand against this new digital tyranny that violates human rights and threatens all free nations," said Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, the Republican co-chair of the caucus.

"Digital tyrants, beware. Your days are numbered," Brownback told a gathering at the US Capitol launching the group.

Senator Ted Kaufman of Delaware, the other co-chair, and a Democrat, said the group formalized work of the senators on Internet issues and followed the creation of a similar caucus in the House of Representatives.

"The power to connect and access information is a fundamental right which we seek to protect, and the caucus establishes an additional vehicle for doing so," Kaufman said.

The announcement came two days after Google halted censorship in China, heightening tensions between Washington and Beijing and drawing more attention to the issue of Internet freedom.

Brownback said the Global Internet Freedom Caucus would address issues in China and elsewhere.

"Walls of oppression today are built out of networks and software as much as bricks and mortar," he said. "In China, Iran, and around the world, authoritarian governments censor information, suppress communication, and persecute free speech."

Other top senators in the caucus included Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and former Republican presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona.

"The fundamental freedom of all people to speak, associate, and develop their full potential is inextricably linked to the freedom of the Internet and all communications online," said McCain.

"But governments that deny the basic rights of their people are now building new and better means to expand their oppression into cyberspace. This caucus will help the United States to further our goal of keeping the Internet free, everywhere and for all people."