A proposal to give the President "emergency control of the internet."

I presume the President already has emergency control of other communications systems, including television, radio, and telephone. He and the military probably have control of most satellite systems. Now a bill before Congress offers additional powers:

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license...

The Senate Commerce Committee says this bill is necessary and non-threatening:

This particular legislative language is based on longstanding statutory authorities for wartime use of communications networks. To be very clear, the Rockefeller-Snowe bill will not empower a "government shutdown or takeover of the Internet" and any suggestion otherwise is misleading and false. The purpose of this language is to clarify how the president directs the public-private response to a crisis, secure our economy and safeguard our financial networks, protect the American people, their privacy and civil liberties, and coordinate the government's response.

These reassurances notwithstanding, TYWKIWDBI finds the idea discomfiting.