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Sigh. Wired truly are irresponsible idiots. Literally the first section of the link:"Section 706 of the Communications Act of 1934 provides nearly unchecked authority to the President to “cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communication” and “authorize the use of control of any such facility or station” by the Federal government. Exercise of the authority requires no advance notification to Congress and can be authorized if the President proclaims that “a state or threat of war” exists. The authority can be exercised for up to six months after the “state or threat of war” has expired."
The intent of the law isn't to give the president sweeping powers, but to control sweeping powers he ALREADY HAS. (Whether it goes far enough is another question.) Why does Wired link that whilst obviously failing to read it? Why the fuck is Wired tolerating people making death threats against US senators, on the basis of its own misinformation?
That maybe the case that some shadow of legislation maybe laying there but this YES WE CAN PARTY is doing just that YES WE WILL. This is an overt grab for power to silence & kill free speech to quell discent at any cost. Tell me what form of government does that make the Obama camp?This is a very dangerous Bill, true the people should fear their government but rather their government should fear the people but here is coming another part of the noose around the neck.
Yes it was by another Progressive. There are a lot of people who are studying to get their degrees on line at accredited colleges..
Seems contradictory to have a kill switch on information just when we need to be able to access information. Isn't this what Chavez did? Do you enjoy the idea that you will not only loose net, but radio, and tv? Maybe it is time for me to reinvest in a ham radio.. KBR0027.
And you believe this won't lead to expanded powers at the first sign of a problem or false flag? You must be very familiar with government aggression. Study a little history.
We need that switch ASAP.
Who the fuck is Rev. Sokolov?
Assuming you are American, of course.
(Edited by author 2 weeks ago)
Governments are instituted among people to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms that all individuals are born with. When it becomes destructive of those rights, it is our duty as free individuals to rise up and end such government and erect new safeguards for our liberties.
I think I've read some of those words somewhere before...can't quite put my finger on it...
--This comment has been edited for content by the United States Government--
It's only a matter of time before any government feels compelled to restrict it's citizens freedoms in order to protect itself from an perceived threat and to justify those restrictions as necessary to protect it's citizens. We are seeing the beginnings of the end of the United States and of our constitutional freedoms. It's time to wake up before we have our own Mubarak to deal with.
Only a matter of time? Iran and Egypt are already guilty of this, now US wants the power to do the same. Nice club we are in. What ever happened to land of the free???
This is how they always start out. They say we are doing this to protect you.They always say that and then they start adding more and more so called protections for our own good.
It is like they try to control our guns by saying perverts shouldn't have guns or criminals shouldn't have guns and then they say we can only have certain guns. The Constitution says we are allowed to have guns. It doesn't say anything about perverts, felons, or what type of guns. They just keep inching in until they take away everything. I want everyone to have a gun, even criminals. If they break into a house, they don't know who has a gun and who doesn't have a gun. It keeps crime down.
Now, they got cameras all over the place even in little towns. Big Brother is definetely watching. They asked permission in our city to put up some traffic cameras at high accident spots. Nothing like this was mentioned. We gave them an inch and they took the whole yard stick.
Now, they want to shut down our Internet at their whim. Next what?
What planet are you from with a statement like "I want everyone to have a gun, even criminals."?
Please take a moment to ponder the fact that: when guns are outlawed for private citizens, only the criminal will have a gun,...because they dont give a damn about laws and then not only will our marxist govt have you by the gonads, the criminals will be emboldened to do what they want without opposition.
Bringing a flyswatter to a gun fight is about as smart as having a islamic prezedent/
Does it say in the Constitution that a convicted felon can't have a weapon? No, it does not. If Britain had won the Revolutionary War, Washington & Jefferson would have been hanged and there wouldn't have been a Constitution.
Consider this: since the 2008 election, more americans have bought guns that in any other time block, the crime rate is now lower than it has been in years. Why? Because criminals have begun to realize that they are not the only ones who have power. The private citizen and the homeowner and the family are threats to the would be burglar, rapist, criminal. They know that they will more than likely be lookin down the business end of a 12ga or a .40 cal Glock when they go about doing thier mischief. Even the odds. it works.
Not that you probably care about facts but the crime rate has been going down since well before 2008
"If Britain had won the Revolutionary War, Washington & Jefferson would have been hanged and there wouldn't have been a Constitution."And if my aunt had balls she would be my uncle, what is your point?
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength
Land of the free? mere myth...
more like Land of the ignorant; home of the fool.
Our national anthem should be ACDC's Highway to Hell.
The club you refer to is only for the superrich elitists and we don't belong and never have. They control everything. The gov't only exist to give the impression that you have some control, but you don't.
The beginning of the end started about 9 years ago after 911.Then the middle of the beginning worsened sharply in Jan 2009 now we are near the end of the beginning. End is in sight unless we of all of us regardless of our politics stop it NOW!. Mr B in Egypt has showed us our future. As a 67 year old I may not live to see it--its up to you young folks to decide right now what kind of country you want to live in. Twitter on kids and ignore your freedoms--you won't miss them til they are gone
America is one step away from being a dictatorship.
Not really dictatorship, more like authoritarian-centralized oligarchy reminiscent to what the Soviet Union and China just shed.
Simple observation... Everything that Nixon was impeached for is now legal. Police now can arrest you for recording their actions on the job in three states (Massachusetts, Maryland, and Illinois). Not saying we're heading that way. But man do we have a weird way of making people feel free.
While not impeached, he DID resign before it happened. That fact notwithstanding the comment is still correct.
No, he resigned. Coincidentally, he resigned immediately before impeachment proceedings were to commence. Since the Plumbers were caught red-handed and their actions were traced back to Nixon, his conviction would have been a done deal. So you are technically correct while still managing to miss the point.
It's already there, effectively. Close enough to make no difference if you can see through the propaganda.
Your right, the companies and banks that own the US Government would never allow it!
-- Frederick Douglass
Twenty years ago, it may have been possible to "shut down" the Internet. Today, the damage done to the economy would dwarf any potential cyberthreat.Next up, legislation to shut down the US power grid in response to a possible electrical storm...
(Edited by author 3 weeks ago)
If you're saying that the US government would never take action that would put the economy at risk in order to protect the elite, then how would you explain the recent bank bailouts?
Unlike the damage done to our economy by Washington through other means. What's one more attack on the economy if it preserves the power of those in DC?
Damn Republicans and their Freedom!Wait... this completely conflicts with my narrow-minded 2-party system polarized perception of the world.
There's only one party with two wings.
Finally someone said it.
What did it say?
Wait, I thought it hadn't yet been re-introduced?
yes America has turned into an inverted totalitarianism
First? You might want to look up an obscure Italian totalitarian movement that was in power during WWII.(Also, we aren't as free as we should be, but we aren't fascists yet. I regularly criticize government policy and have yet to have my door broken down as a result.)
Oh great! Now any President, not just the current occupant, will be able to do what Hosni Mubarak just did in Egypt to kill the message.(Edited by author 3 weeks ago)
That's the best part about politics; everyone wants power but they can't possibly envision anyone but themselves wielding it, ergo, they fail to see why nobody should have this power.The one ring can't be used for good.
Because if it was, like, just the "current occupant" it would be okay. Or something.
The word "hypocrit" mean anythig?
Actually "hypocrit" doesn't mean anything at all. Hypocrite on the other hand does have a definition. Thanks for playing.
Hey, why not turn off the electricity, phones, and water too. And do not forget to impose a draconian curfew and institute martial law while you are at it? Sounds like the first step to a totalitarian state masquerading as national security. Shut down the internet? So much for the Bill of Rights.
And this is why Ron Paul needs to be president in '12. He isn't apart of this two-party sham that is American politics. He doesn't "play the party game", he actually has principles that he has stood behind for decades, principles of individual freedom. If America continues in this illusion of the two party system, and keeps on going back and forth between the "Bushs" and "Obamas", then it will be in for a rude awakening when it finds out that, in fact, democrats and republicans aren't so different after all, and that at the core of things, both parties as a whole are working not against each other, but towards the same goal: more power in the hands of the few. Ron Paul 2012
And it's because of the short sightedness of people such as yourself that we find ourselves in this mess in the first place. There's nothing "out there" about what Dr Paul is saying. I'd wager you don't even know what he's saying and are just reacting, as so many do nowadays, on party line propaganda force fed to you by the self same people that seek to centralize power in Washington. Why not try and wake up and have a thought or two not brought to you by MSNBC or Fox news or the at least make informed statements instead of just vague ones based on little knowledge and much ignorance.
But way too stupid to know what it is!
Drink Beer! Vote Beer!
Imagine the current (illegitimate) occupant of the WH in charge of this, and his cronies Napolitano, Holder and their ilk.
stop posting your moronic thoughts, its making me change my mind and now I support the kill switch!!!!
Please explain the claim of Obama's illegitimacy. A mere statement of your belief will not suffice, as any such claim is pure speculation. Let's see the proof.
The Left is far more dangerous, my children, check your history, but power corrupts all, SO GIVE IT TO NONE. The 2nd amendment has nothing to do with hunting or protecting yourself from burglars. I have no gun, but I understand the warning about government power it speaks to.
Don't fall for the stereotypes and propaganda. Do not let any of them gain power to stop our communication.
just because we have a democratic president does not mean AT ALL that we are being steered by the left and that its "more dangerous" ... and what are you even comparing that to.. the right? you need to get educated... we don't even have a two-party government anymore.. thats the delusion given to us so it appears we have a CHOICE in the matter, but really, the social and fiscal points of view from either a Dem or a Rep are not confined to the parties they represent... OBVIOUSLY
I completely agree. We are in a one party system with only a slight variance between them. It's this variance we're led to believe is 'left" or "right". They use this to great effect to spin the masses around like tops. When they stop spinning and try and get their bearings their made to spin again over another "situation" created to just keep them spinning, never stopping to take in their surroundings and make informed decisions based on actions, observations, and history, not words and promises. All that's left to do is demonize the people, very few though they may be, that can't be made to spin. That's the easy part. Just call them crazy and make them stand out from the herd, tapping in to the primal need to fit in to a group, and people will stay away from them, even though what their saying may make perfect sense if they'd take the time to listen without prejudice.
Show me these examples of the danger of the left, Joe.
Everything they've done since taking control of both houses and the executive branch in 2008.
No. Don't fuel his uneducated bias.
It should not be a contest, but: U.S.S.R, Communist China, Castro & Che, Weather Underground, Eco-raiders Most of the presidential assassinations, movies with Bush getting assassinated, posters to abort Palin, etc.
The Right is no angel, but the body count leans to the left, and the Left tends to romanticise efforts to give power to the peasants even though the opposite always happens. The Right takes no pride in their killers and crazies of the past.
The idea of America is to limit political power, not the individual. The giant corporations are most dangerous when they collude with a powerful government. Competition and a few regulations will keep the corporations limited. But it is up to us not to get suckered into thinking there is a free lunch. Those politicians will promise you the world to get that power. They want to have the power to kill the Internet, in an emergency, of course.
She would get it mixed up with the light switch.
"An example, the aide said, would require infrastructure connected to “the system that controls the floodgates to the Hoover dam” to cut its connection to the net if the government detected an imminent cyber attack."If the system that controls the floodgates to Hoover dam is controlled over the Internet, the engineer who designed it should be made to sit in the corner of the room with a dunce cap for an extended period, then horsewhipped and subsequently sued. The best security for critical infrastructure is to not put it on the Internet in the first place. A distant second-best, if someone gets it into their heads that the Internet must be used, to allow access only via VPN. The fact that a Homeland Security aide said this is evidence that the people pushing this legislation are either lying or incompetent. Though I suppose they could well be both.
If the Internet has become a potential failure point for critical infrastructure, you're doing it wrong. That is the problem that needs to be fixed.
I seriously doubt they are controlled over the internet, but they are probably connected to a network that has an internet connection. Therefore, they could possibly be hacked.However, I'm not really sure what this bill is proposing. Its quite easy to disconnect a valuable system from the internet. Grab the network cable in the back of your machine and pop it out. Its impossible to hack something that isn't connected to anything!
Yeah we see how well this is working out for Egypt, don't we?
Who knew?
and they are still trying to do that after Egyptian shutdown? Are they aiming for political suicide?
As the country who invented the internet - it was a DARPA invention by the way, and I was one of the first on the internet before the Brit who came up with the Worldwide Web software and it was a very different place. Now pedophiles troll indiscriminately, every perversion is freely available, terrorists use it to communicate all over the world and leftist groups practice calumny on hundreds of websites. Collectively De Sade and Goebbels would be proud of our brave new world.
I don't object to Obama having that power, as much I as I personally detest that inept rookie who calls his political opposition "enemies". Shades of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton! I wonder what you are so fearful of Bees? We've lost most of our collective rights in the last two years than we have in the last twenty. That is a fact. If I, a staunch fiscal conservative who sees the need for our rookie to have this power to protect us, what are you so fearful of? Or are you another leftist paranoic? You should get together with Ron Paul's Libertarians. You are all birds of a feather. By the way, Hannibal is my real middle name. Boo!
Oh, if only you could, Mr. Hannibal sir, if only you could, clean out the scum, once and for all! Our once proud country could shine and prosper again! Mr. Hannibal, sir, if YOU were our president, and YOU had such a switch at your disposal, would you not be tempted to shut it down, to stop for once and for all, all those perverts and the would be terrorrists and wackos? You could clean it all up, in one fell swoop! Total control, in one switch. We are talking about legislation that is intended to empower the government to shut down the internet. This is not an evaluation of the success, or failure of the internet as a tool of self expression. This is about handing a tool of oppression and control to the government. To use your reference, back at you- Goebbels would be very proud. You see, Hannibal, it is a dangerous and slippery slope we are rocketing down.
You also characterized the president as an inept rookie. I think you may have a point here as well, one that also highlights the weakness of your position. It just so happens that while I do not agree that Obama is an "inept rookie" (more like a seasoned politician cloaked in liberal platitudes, he is really a Trojan horse centrist), I do not inherently trust our government to act in the best interest of its citizens. I believe it is up to ALL of US to maintain VIGILANCE of our own government. As they say, good crops require constant gardening. I am sure if you have been around as long as you claim, you know what that is in reference to. And so, for differing reasons, we both seem to have arrived at the same conclusion. The government is not to be trusted with such a dangerous weapon of control and oppression. An "internet switch" is one tool that is too sharp for the proverbial sandbox.
Oh and Crackerboy- why don't you try writing a coherent paragraph or two before you appoint yourself sheriff of the forum- you might actually contribute something to the conversation. Or not.
Excellent post Sir! Except that I find Obama to be more republican than you give him credit for. But he sure does talk that liberal platitude hand jive real fine, now don't he? You'd swear he actually believed it, wouldn't you?
Nothing good could come from this. It just shows how BOTH parties are completely messed up. Bush started these travesties DHS, Patriot Act, Gitmo and el. However, Obama and the Democrats have done nothing to reverse or back away from Bush's policies. It just keeps getting worse and it is hard to find anyone on the Left willing to admit it is messed up. We are really stuck between Suck and Suckless. What ever happened to, "Power to the people"?
Accelerating Technology;
power to the robots.
0011101101111000111
anyone that votes for this WILL NOT GET MY VOTE EVER!!!!!!!
It's funny that you "think" your vote really matters, or makes a difference, any more.
If our votes don't matter, why do the state parties spend so much money on propaganda that seems aimed mostly at getting you to vote for them?
WOW can you tell a difference between Bush and Obama? Both are expanding the federal gov way beyond its means.
How shocking. Who would have expected that a senator who voted for most of Bush's expansions of government power would then want to keep all this lovely power for himself once he became President?(Though, to be fair, the kill switch seems to be more Lieberman's baby than Obama's.)
This is a Freedom of Press issue.Given that a very large number of people get their news from the Internet, would not having a kill switch be the modern equivalent of shutting down the newspapers a hundred years ago?
To propose this "Switch" law takes some serious ignorance about the Constitution in my mind.
What I fear most, today, is the disproportionate responses that these notions might provoke.
Bull
It's like they are using the same template over and over for every assault on our liberties.It's always for our own good just like the National Socialists of the 1940s. The propaganda ministry over at Homeland seems to be running things more and more these days. Government by and for the people, yea right.
What I would like to know is why; “the system that controls the floodgates to the Hoover dam”; is on the 'Internet'. Some geek thought it would be 'cool' to be able to control the dam functions from his XBox at home?Someone else in this post said it best.. "SkyNet"
This is exactly what I was thinking. Why would anyone connect critical systems controlling dams, nuclear plants or factory machines to the Internet? I mean seriously, you want decent security just don't put in a physical net connection in the first place.
It probably isn't. The reporter probably just made it up.
now, what exactly is the definition of "significant" cyber threat? Wikileaks? Copyright infringement? Anti-Obama twitter postings?
The First Amendment is only half what we need. We need a Zero Amendment. All digital information is made up of zeros and ones, isn't it ? Where's that zero..Net Neutrality as a constitutional right ? We should all thank the government and DARPA for inventing the internet, but that was 40 years ago. It's time they got out of the way and the entirety of the Web became as 'public domain' as the Earth's atmosphere.
Between the government wanting censorship and master access , and the likes of Verizon, ComCast, AT&T, et al wanting to control content, bandwidth , and speed for a hefty price on their terms 24/7/366 , we have the equivalent of a whole new Civil Rights Movement here.
Check the name "net neutrality". The proposed laws with that name on it will do the opposite.
lets all have our own private internets, every person! There, fixed! ( I thinks the innernit between yer brain and yer mouth might be experiencing sum dropped packets)
davem21: you have been fooled to say such a thing about Palin. The Tea Party is about limited government, period.
Check your premise.
Or how about the Netherlands whose government refuses to discipline their malicious crackers who constantly attack the DoD, the FBI, our financial sector etc. They openly tout their websites where they share techniques for cracking, trade hacked passwords and other information. This is tantamount to the same state sponsored criminal actions we see in North Korea. That country should be the first one turned off and maybe we can be treated to a song about being shunned by Anouk, the Dutch songstress.
What about the Russian cyber criminals who crack millions of identities and steal billions of every currency on the planet every week?
Any one of them should be cutoff right now. The U.S. who is presumptively the most powerful nation on the Earth right now faces many wanna be emperors who'd like nothing more than reducing us to a second class nation. Preventing that is the intent of the bill. I think its hilariously ironic that the proposed wording is an exact copy of the restrictions in the Patriot Act. Many of you who voiced your outrage in here about this new Act also voiced your outrage over the Patriot Act. I would suggest you take a course in logic, or perhaps seek out a good analyst.
Last time I checked we didn't shut down large parts of our infrastructure over petty cyber criminals. To be frank I'd love to see your information from unbiased sources, and I'd love to get your understanding of how cyber crime works.Jon liked this
And the sys admins at the DOD, etc. need some kind of global authorization from the POTUS before they can defend against hackers because???. The explanation being given doesn't add up.
Your post belongs on TWIT... (and I don't mean TWITTER.
Any power available to the FedGov WILL be abused. Always.
"The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object." -Thomas Jefferson
I don't CARE ! No one should have that power. Neither Jesus Christ, Bouddha or ME the nicest person on Earth neither Obama, the greatest super-hero to have been elected (or whatever.. )Sooner or later, someone worse will use it or he/she will be corrupted.
it's not fantasy, it's History. History of humanity.
-
to protect right of citizens every powers need a counter power. Every kill switch need a counter kill switch. Every route of internet need another routes.We need more private internet networks interconnected to ever more private and public network and ever more countries interconnected by ever more routes.
-
Very soon, we will start to see easy program to create a virtual network upon wifi interconnexion in cities (mesh). It would be enough to interconnect people by their own devices in a city, even if the cable/gsm network is shutdown.
Get a shortwave radio
Everything that has been passed in the last 10 years has geared this Country towards this happening.
Corporations will own you and your supposed Government will be holding their hands!
I'm too old to live long enough to see it completed ,but from what I've seen in the last few years it's not "if" but when. This Corporate run government will never allow you to protest for any real changes...if you still believe you have this chance your dreaming! Everything they do now is geared towards total control ....and when they try and spin it off as for your safety....well...if you believe that you deserve all that's happening!
Good luck as a new and better "slave"
Are we on a bridge of glass?
Where does it lead? Where do we fall if it breaks?
Our technologies are on the verge of solving most every energy or food problem for the world. However; This economic transition and the human scramble for power makes it all very precarious.
But the guns are untouchable
Maine has the slogan: "The way life should be." I think my state senators have lost touch with that slogan. Life should not be killing the internet. This is not Egypt or China. I think Collins needs to focus more on jobs and the economy. Or how about getting the bridge from Kittery, ME to Portsmouth, NH rebuilt. There are a lot more problems going on that are far more important that this legislation.
I thought the internet was originally designed (by DARPA) to survive any threat -- including the threat of technologically under-educated politicians.
Gee!! Did I fight the wrong dictators in WW II ??? Down the line will there be fighting USA dictators??
If they pass it, they should be voted OUT just for this. This is a treasonous assault on civil liberties and freedom in general.Reading the Constitution didn't seem to help this Congress. Were they asleep, drunk or did they just do it for show? They seem more like the Supreme Soviet of the USSR than the Congress of the United States. If Jefferson or Washington would come back today, they would be in the street screaming over this. This disgusting Senate wants to control the sheeple, not defend the ideals on which the nation was founded.
I suppose if they shut off the internet, they will also blackout the windows of the steeple in the Old North Church.
This comment has been edited for Christian political correctness by the Supreme Homeland Security Kill Switch Intra Committee. The HSKSC employees Great Firewall of China technical commie gumbo hacker specialists in advance of the establishment of the New World Order United Greater China North American States of Pyongyang. All Hail the DISQUS Moderator!!! ;>).
This was originally introduced by Rockefeller a dem and Snowe a rep then was reintroduced by Lieberman another dem. The two parties are working together on what can only be called a ridiculous piece of legislation that would be thrown out on grounds of being unconstitutional before it could even be put into place. But it does show how bad our own government has gotten that they think something like this is anywhere close to being appropriate.
and this is why we need an alternative internet that is NOT govt regulated or controlled. those blimps are sounding better and better each day. ;)
Sadly, I see this eventually happening as well since it's already taking place in multiple countries. Either that or they will end up passing the whole internet neutrality proposal...
Me? I'm just trying to figure out how much porn I should stockpile before this all hits.
As a security expert in Fortune 10 companies for years, I can tell you this is a power grab and does nothing to protect US citizens. Think about it - If the people operating the flood gates of the Hoover Dam have connected their controlling systems directly to the internet, how can you trust them in the first place ?You can't.
Yeah, I can see that. National security is such a beautifully vague reason to do anything.Shh, dissent is dangerous. You are a danger to yourself.
How could an internet switch possibly do any good to anyone but a government under attack by it's fed up citizens? This is a load of horse shit.
Thank you, you pathetic puppet of the USA, Egypt.
It is not unreasonable to expect that someone in the year 2105 uses this legislation to impede his political enemies.
The legislation is not needed now, since it solves a hypothetical and unlikely case where the government wants to shut down servers and routers because of cyberattacks, but the server administrators refuse to shut them off and the government requires additional legal powers. It seems to me purely and simply a power grab where the incidental powers are the ones that are really lusted over.
I used to get all bent out of shape over every story like this, then realized that most of these egregious bills never make it out of committee. Good idea to keep an eye on it and any politician who has voiced support for it, but realize it ain't even a bill on Capitol Hill yet.
It's not just the looming possibility of censorship, but from the sounds of it, the impending doom of robot assassins. Automated dam shut off, from perceived cyber attacks, sounds like Skynet to me.
I wonder if the politicians would approach this legislation differently if instead of granting the president power to shut down internet, it gave him the power to shut down internet *and phone* usage.These politicians are so ridiculously out of date.
Deekoo liked this
-Read: We need a good excuse to silently wrest more liberty from the sleeping hands of democracy.
"An example, the aide said, would require infrastructure connected to “the system that controls the floodgates to the Hoover dam” to cut its connection to the net if the government detected an imminent cyber attack"
- Why on God's green earth are critical infrastructures and controlling devices even connected to the public internet, and in some cases, coded to run on insecure and unstable platforms? Either someone is really stupid or an evil genius, both of which are disturbing.
Will someone in our government PLEASE PROMISE US that our internet will NOT be interrupted, regardless...? In cases of natural or political emergencies, in many cases cell phones and the internet are THE ONLY WAYS we can connect with family members who are now scattered across our great country. To be DEPRIVED of this would be a violation of OUR civil rights - the ones we pay our taxes to keep in force.
(Edited by author 2 weeks ago)
Oh thats really rich of the Obama YES WE CAN PARTY, Mr Obama was critical of the Egyptians shutting down the internet & mobile phone system yet he is chasing that same power on a grander scale.Classic do as I say don't do as I do!
Could have used a better picture to illustrate "Internet Kill Switch" then a Cisco SAN switch (MDS 9509).
Amazon and Every on line service will and should fight this BS NECON bill!!!
I'm glad I live in Canada, to bad half our trunks run down through the US.
Yeah, right...cut us off.
Exactly what the Egyptian government is doing to its people right now for rebelling.
(Edited by author 2 weeks ago)
It's not the Obama Administration, you morons who think this, it's our beloved Congress. Vote out all incumbents or more of this will come. Welcome to the "New Democracy" of the USA.
> An example, the aide said, would require infrastructure connected to “the system that controls the floodgates to the Hoover dam” to cut its connection to the net if the government detected an imminent cyber attack.Are you kidding me with that crap? Yeah, that's a totally plausible scenario: the system which controls the Hoover Dam's floodgates is connected to the Internet. This idiot has watched too many movies.
(Edited by author 3 weeks ago)
really, and you don't believe the reports in Egypt then I guess, eh? I for a fact know they can't just shut down the inter....[BOINK]
Canada has censored all news sources at least 4 times that I can remember in the last 40 years.
Canada is even worse when it comes to violations of free speech.12ozmouse liked this
"Canada is even worse when it comes to violations of free speech."Not really, the tea-bag set just likes to blow things wildly out of proportion to prove how Canada's an EvvilE SOshaliSTe NaSHUn.
Don't get me wrong, Canada is a shithole sitting on top of a shithole.
Freedom of speech is the 1st amendment in America. Then the 2nd amendment was designed to protect the 1st. Does any other country put free speech that high on the list?
Let's assume there is a cyber-"threat" on American soil, are we also to assume that ISPs will not will not apply to a request to shut off the internet to "prevent" "damage?"
What even defines a "cyber threat," tell me that... this goes right along with "terrorism" ...anything can be deemed a threat and everyone is subject to being called a "terrorist" if they challenge the american govt in any way... loopholes loopholes loopholes
Probably weapons of mass destruction in Iraque. It seemed to work last time.
So, if the attack is successful and begins spreading it would be a good thing to be able to shut down it's propagation channels to keep it from spreading once it's existence is known. Why would that be dumb?
The problem is, that by the time you detect a cyber attack, chances you are already too late to to stop its propagation; once a cyber attack begins in earnest, a targeted cyber attack will have already silently propagated to all the intended targets and it will have been far too late for intervention.A cyber attack is not like a virus or trojan, it is targeted and specific.The only instance where shutting down the internet would help against such an attack is if the internet was shut down while the attack was being planned--hardly an effective solution.
The best defense against such an attack, vigilance. Teach you operators to watch their systems, and maintain their process-trees. Keep your firewall active, and for gods' sake screen your employees clearance levels thoroughly.
Still, since it is impossible to figure out all possible attacks, having a way to isolate small and large sections of the CONUS internet and maybe the whole CONUS internet might not be a bad thing. For one thing, thinking about how it would be implemented might give some unexpected insights. I'm sure people have already put some thought into the idea.
The Thomas Guide link timed out. Please post the title or number of the legislation so we can search for it.
Of course they will not say that such power could be used for really bad things. Maybe they even honestly believe it. But it is a fact and there are numerous precedents of slippery slope.In any case, government should maybe focus on its primary task (protecting the citizens from murder, rape, fraud or theft), rather than itself being an aggressor on various private owners of network infrastructure, under some paternalistic pretense.
You only need a kill switch when you are doing something evil and you are scared people will use it to protest against you. We all saw what they did to the Egyptian people, now they ask for a way to do the same to us if we ever disagree with them.-That is what they keep telling us right? If you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear...
dude if this happened many people would start buying some black market internet and go insane like that one southpark episode
pass a kill switch and get your face kick through
Maybe we should shut down the phone lines of Sen. Collins' home and office to see if she likes the idea of being shut up and shut down. Dang, I hate to think about how many idiots "we the people" have sent to Washington, D. C. But, at least they are congregated into one area. I worry about the state who's i.q. soars to new heights when there politicians leave their home state.
Turning off the Internet, if it was indeed possible would do more financial harm than any perceived act of cyber-terrorism could ever achieve. So now instead of an actual attack you simply let it be know you are about to make such an attack. The US shuts down the net and does the terrorists jobs for them.
Y'know, I just read the bill. To me, it seems to be 99% about protecting the infrastructure. Isn't that what we need government to do?Most of the bill outlines the creation of an agency and how it operates. It provides for sharing best practices between private sector and government and between the various government agencies. Although it does give the President power to respond to a national cyber emergency, it is overwhelmingly angled towards avoiding disruption rather than shutting anything down.
It directs the agency to work cooperatively with the private sector to secure infrastructure and communications networks in advance of trouble. It goes out of its way to establish mechanisms for assisting owners of critical infrastructure and specifies education of the public and State and local governments of ways to mitigate and remediate vulnerabilities.
It also specifically prohibits censorship of information, interception of information, control of infrastructure, the ability to compel the disclosure of information or any act which prohibits communications unless there is no other way to avoid a disruption. I agree that these are just words, but how do you construct policy without them?
Here is the "Prohibited Actions" section:
(6) PROHIBITED ACTIONS- The authority to direct compliance with an emergency measure or action under this section shall not authorize the Director, the Center, the Department, or any other Federal entity to--
‘(A) restrict or prohibit communications carried by, or over, covered critical infrastructure and not specifically directed to or from the covered critical infrastructure unless the Director determines that no other emergency measure or action will preserve the reliable operation, and mitigate or remediate the consequences of the potential disruption, of the covered critical infrastructure or the national information infrastructure;
(B) control covered critical infrastructure; ‘
(C) compel the disclosure of information unless specifically authorized by law; or ‘
(D) intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication (as those terms are defined insection 2510 of title 18, United States Code), access a stored electronic or wire communication, install or use a pen register or trap and trace device, or conduct electronic surveillance (as defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C.1801)) relating to an incident unless otherwise authorized under chapter 119, chapter 121, or chapter 206 of title 18, United States Code, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.).
(7) PRIVACY- In carrying out this section, the Director shall ensure that the privacy and civil liberties of United States persons are protected.
I'm a liberal who supports this administration vigorously. I am also a supporter of moderate Republicans like Susan Collins. I am also glad the ACLU and others are on the case because there is absolutely the need to monitor the method by which the goal of this legislation is achieved.
But this "kill-switch" issue is standard readership-generating hyperbole. And I'm not even saying that's a bad thing. But these trolls who leap to the extremes, screaming ridiculous accusations every time the government (OK -- this government) tries to do its job are either working for corporate interests or are stupid.
Internet "kill switch" legislation: Do we wnat this much power in one person's hands? What does Egypt tell us about the possibilities?
If anyone ever worked in one of those places, they know all the wires are numbered so it is NOT as confusing as the reporter makes it out to be!
I love it. If they kill the Internet, than Homeland Security can no longer spy on me through my Microsoft Xbox360 Kinect! Ha!
Ultimately the people will rule with one heart.
This bill will either A. not pass or B. be shot down immediately by the courts. Fact is, something like this is unconstitutional due to the reliance that the press has on the internet. Most, if not all forms of news media use direct internet feeds to get their information in the first place and in this day and age where news is close to instant, something like this could be crippling. Freedom of the press is the answer to this.
Over our dead bodies. Far too dangerous a precedent to set.
The "best tools available" are the anonymous hackers who's skills are light years beyond those of any US enemy & who would step in on their own to assist.
We're learning a lot from the Egyptian Revolution regarding electronic comm tools and the ways around them. Techs have banded together to make this happen.
Congress needs to *catch up.*
I'm 56, yet feel like I'm dealing with a bunch of clueless fogies from another era. Smh.
Scary, the first step into a dangerous world of censorship and government control. What's happening in Egypt is an unprecedented violation of the rights of Egyptian Nationals. Here's hoping we don't allow the same thing to happen to us in the States!!
"The bill is designed to protect against “significant” cyber threats before they cause damage, Collins said"in other words, designed to "officially" excuse themselves of any wrongdoing in shutting down the net during one of their manufactured False Flag Cyber Operation which comes JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME to stifle any form of an organized grassroots protest.
Why the he'll is the Hoover dam connected to the Internet? Why is any critical infrastructure connected to the Internet? Manage that stuff locally, why create vulnerabilities? Leave the Internet alone, it belongs to everyone.
Critical infrastructures are NOT connected to our Internet. Do the research.
Me? I'm just trying to figure out how much porn I should stockpile before this all hits.
Instead of a a kill switch maybe a seperate internet should be used for critical operations like the electric grid water systems. Plus the idea of having an non internet based way of controling these systems. So if a kill switch needed to be used then it can be an focused and should be easier to ID an attacker on a restricted Internet.
They will forfeit everything they think they now
can screw with, and then some: EVERYTHING.Perhaps this is that Last Straw. It probably is.
“My legislation would provide a mechanism for the government to work with the private sector in the event of a true cyber emergency.”These are weasel words—intentionally vague and meant to scare people into supporting the bill. The example he gives is about the government intercepting a remote attack on the Hoover dam, which apart from being extremely far-fetched, really has nothing to do with the Internet at large, and more to do with their internal network security.
This is preparation by out pentagon/AIPAC elite to control the sheeple.There is never enough control, it's like money, never enough money, never enough control
Why, Why and Why would the computers controlling the floodgates of the Hoover Dam ever be connected to the Internet in the first place. That is unimaginably irresponsible! Things like that should never be exposed to the Internet and legislation such as this should be entirely unnecessary.
Why, Why and Why would the computers controlling the floodgates of the Hoover Dam ever be connected to the Internet in the first place. That is unimaginably irresponsible! Things like that should never be exposed to the Internet and legislation such as this should be entirely unnecessary.
That's a nice cisco 9509 :-) That's quite a bit of money right there, especially with the dual supervisor cards.
the preceeding post was sarcasm. did you read it? did you agree with it? Then you need to get our of the USA!
I hope our communist govt seizes the internet, shuts down talk radio, shuts up conservative opinion and gets on with our plan to take over this turd bucket we call a democracy. Its time for total govt control of the insane masses and control thier miserable trailer trash lives. The govt needs lackies, sock puppets and slaves for its marxist take over of north america. power to the browns, blacks, immigrants and islam. Time to stop democracy.
Considering the fact that our govt is now in the death grip of communists, marxist labour unions, homos, dissetants, saboteurs, and islamic sponsored subversives and a muslim president, we are lucky to be alive.
A total Internet shutdown will never happen in this country as there are so many more ISPs and options. More importantly, the corporations that run this country (if you don't think that's true, look at the "Citizens United" ruling) will never allow the disruption of online monies their way. Now, if you want to discuss net neutrality and the corporations' ability to manipulate access so that they eliminate competition or negative press for them, etc.--sure, that's totally believable.
"Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete."- Excerpt from "The Obsolete Man" by Rod Serling. Twilight Zone episode.
NO, NO, NO!
What is this I don't even.
-----CENSORED_____
This is abhorrent. the idea that a Republican could be stupid or disingenuous enough to SPONSOR anything like this....well, the tea party needs to purify the GOP even more, obviously.
It's a liberalism-vs-authoritarianism issue, not a GOP-vs-Tea Party issue. There are Tea Party speakers who staunchly support free speech, and there are also Tea Party speakers who call for the assassination of people whose speech they disapprove of.
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