U.S. Government Proposes "Internet Kill Switch"

[Agayek]

Any proof of that? If you don't have any proof, then i claim that the Internet was "techincally invented" by Russians.

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/internet.htm

The foundation was laid by the US in the early 70's with the ARPAnet, which connected several computers in several universities and research labs together. Over the next 10-15 years, there was a flurry of research into it, with several smaller scale "internets", until 1989 when an English researcher working for CERN created the World Wide Web.

I would argue that the US invented the internet, since the ARPAnet was paid for and built by American scientists, and its design is still the backbone of the 'net, but it's semantics at this point.

 

[Catalyst6]

The internet does not belong to the U.S government. It is not theres to shut down.

While this is true, the ISPs that run your connection to the internet has to listen to them.

Frankly, this is incredibly... dangerous. It's like if the government just decided to ban walking one day, society would practically collapse.

Frankly, it's kind of adorable how the government thinks that they stand half a chance against the hackers.

 

[firemark]

This coming from the same lovely government that almost considered passing a law that would make the value of Pi (3.14159...) equal to 3 because the concept was confusing to young children. (Granted this was a hundred years ago, but the point remains). The president received the Nobel Prize for saying he was going to do things, not what he had done, but for what he said he would do. Sadly, it might actually pass.

 

[xXAsherahXx]

What? Do they expect something from the plot of Die Hard 4? Don't turn off the interwebz, just think of ways to protect your secrets, or, don't put them on the f*cking computer, keep them in folders for Sam Fisher to steal.

 

[LordWalter]

That's 16 "cybers" and GOD DAMN IT I hate the U.S. Government right now. Do you see this? *waves hand in direction of interet* NOT GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. SOD OFF YOU AUTOCRATIC FOOLS.

"Can't stop the signal" indeed. I'm going to start burning things if I ever have my internet shut off. You want to see a national crisis? Make it impossible to play online video games AND THEN make it impossible to go to online forums.

You will literally have people breaking into government buildings and shooting people while yelling "LAWL! PRESS X NOT TO DIE!"

 

[Zeldadudes]

Imagine the mass Homicide.
All those WoW addicts... lol

 

[Lexodus]

Oh yeah?

Well the US government can suck my cock.

I'm with Wooders. Why the fuck do Americans think they're in charge of everything? It's the fucking internet. The WORLD WIDE WEB.
Also, wtf? Cyber 9/11? What the fuck are they going to do, bomb Wikipedia? Replace all the Disney songs on youtube with porn? OH WAIT.

 

[Yureina]

Grr.... this is obnoxious. I heard Lieberman was a decent fellow a few years ago too... what happened?

 

[Caligulove]

I'm pretty sure its impossible to just "turn off" the internet.
It would be harder to get to and use, sure, but I'm calling bs on this.

And BS on this bill EVER passing.

 

[Hurray Forums]

This doesn't even make any sense. Something bad is happening on the internet so you bring the whole thing(and by extension, pretty much the world, even if it is only stuff located in the US which the wording suggests it isn't) grinding to a halt? That's like nuking a robbery in progress and saying "Problem Solved!!!".

 

[Xyliss]

Wouldn't this stop a communication a lot of people and companies rely on all the time, thus losing millions in the worlds economy. All because they can't stop hackers getting into their files.

 

[MikailCaboose]

...The more I look at this, the more I feel that this wouldn't be for "emergency cases" as they want to claim it is for...

 

[2fish]

Wow, just had to restate how completely f'ng stupid you fucktards are. The article is complete nonsense and if any one of you imbeciles took the time to read the attached PDF you would know that. They are not proposing an internet "kill switch" but rather protocols for handling infrastructure related emergencies.

How you people actually survive is astounding.

I read about 20 pages of it and it sounded like a very long winded way to say they were installing Norton's Anti-Virus. It is just seems very vague and that is what scares me with bills like these.

 

[felixader]

I am more worried about this:

"...the bill would give a newly-formed National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications the authority to monitor the "security status" of private websites, ISPs and other net-related business within the U.S. as well as critical internet components in other countries. Companies would be required to take part in "information sharing" with the government and certify to the NCCC that they have implemented approved security measures. Furthermore, any company that "relies on" the internet, telephone system or any other part of the U.S. "information infrastructure" would also be "subject to command" by the NCCC under the proposed new law."

Are you fucking kidding me?
This is not my country but what you are going at is Dictatorship trough an office of the government!
FUCK YOU!

 

[Walkchalk]

I feel like creating the kill switch could be more problematic than leaving it be. What happens if someone hacks it and activates our killswitch? That would leave millions of people in the dark. Tons of things need the internet in order to function, and if an outside source found a way to actuvate the killswitch we ourselves made then we would be completely fucked.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Well if its in times of crisis then it will be ok. People need to get closer to each other in those times rather then on facebook.

 

[LegendaryMan]

WHy dont they put a sticker on this saying "all your internetz are belong to us"

 

[RangerSERE]

Did anyone bother to read the PDF before over reacting like a 15 yr old girl? I doubt anyones escapist or other gamer site sessions will be interrupted by this. Its very doubtful it will pass, why does everyone always over react and sensationalize these types of stories...children. This place really needs to stop calling itself "NEWS".

 

[moose_man]

I believe that it would really just cut off the internet for the US, not the world. like a connection disruptor.

Don't scoff at the risk this could be Cyber 9/11 times 1000!

The trouble with the internet is it was designed to withstand Nuclear attacks. You can't stop the signal.

So cyber 9/11 would be over 9000?

 

[Iron Lightning]

In the U.S., the DARPAnet, which would lay the base for the internet, was invented. The DARPAnet was designed to move packets of information through any of all available pathways so that communication could take place during a nuclear war. In a time of true crisis, destroying the internet would be akin to destroying the ability of government agencies to communicate with each other. An internet kill switch would, if anything, make the U.S. more vulnerable to attack.