U.S. Government Proposes "Internet Kill Switch"

[Asurnasurpal]

This is a failiure. The internet is wild. It is free. It is what promises humanity's success. The internet is what allows peace, homogenizes culture and brings people from across the planet together. It prevents nations from closing borders and spills the secrets of nations. The internet prevents us from being able to be agressive, and favors us to be loving. The internet in many ways exists more than you or I. The internet is a miracal and a blessing, and no man should be able to deminish it's power.

 

[Hafnium]

Here's the deal people! We, the all-knowing government, foresee that evil individuals will start events to take your rights and credit-card info through the DAAAANGEROUS internet.. We must be able to stop them! The only way is give us complete control so you can be safe.. Please give us your bank account details and password when paying the bill that gives us the money for our plan.. I mean scheme! Wait, no, scheme is good.

 

[punkrocker27]

This makes me think of that fire sale scenario from the latest diehard...good thing it'll never get passed though

 

[Brian Hendershot]

Yeah, I don't see this working out.

Also, what the eff is up with the word cyber.

 

[ShaqLevick]

I couldn't disagree more, they have the largest empire in history, their military is the biggest organization on the globe.

I think a man named Genghis Khan would like a word with you.

If you said currently, I wouldn't have cared, but in history, sorry mate.

LOL, do you even know how many people were on the planet in the 1200's. The gross domestic product of the mongolian nation. Can you even fathom the craft it would take to occupy an actually inhabited Russia? Figurative map lines mean absolutely nothing if nobody lives there let alone if you've actually seen any of your borders... I believe I said in a later post that they conquered the bloody moon, and if you disagree with me on that feel free to go up there yourself and contest that. The Mongols, I mean really.

Yes really, and your argument doesn't hold water. As it stands, even by current times, they had the second largest empire in history, America is at about... The tenth I believe, this includes population, just so you know.

Oh, the moon. You can't really conquer a place when no one else is there. Not only that, but all they did was travel there, not lay claim and say "The moon now belongs to America." Not only that, but your statement about the moon contradicts itself a bit. You claim empty places and figurative lines don't mean anything, but the moon counts?

Sure it does, but beyond the silly moon junk, even though it's a land mass and even though the fact that people don't really live in the arctic everybody that stuck their flag in there thinks they're entitled. But military might is a huge factor and even though population size and economy may look great on paper I just have to consider all the underhanded political games that get played on a global scale. I figure if you choose a dictator to run a country he works for you (which would have been much more applicable in the 70's), control and influence over so many countries making competent decisions daily is more than Rome could have ever done. Regardless, based on the power and influence on a global scale it seems all too obvious. I can't imagine another nation in history that had so much impact on the entire planet, spanning from continent to continent, on such a daily basis as the US. Give that up to technology or of course communication and transportation if you wish, but the proof is in the pudding.

 

[Canid117]

Fuck Liebermen and fuck Obama in short. Isn't this sort of like something Nazis would do, cut off part of the country so that the other part doesn't know that while the Nazis are taking over half the land its planning on doing the other half next.

They didn't cut off or censor anything or claim they would do so, it's a proposal for a last resort security measure.

"Fuck" your liberal use of the "fuck" aimed at Obama who did NOT propose or sign this bill into law. In short "fuck" your ignorance and bigotry, and "fuck" your impolite attacks at a person who is not a party to the action you are complaining about.

Freedom of speech is a ***** but still a freedom (at this point) and I can point my anger and aggression to anyone I feel it is deserved thank you, so again fuck O-B-A-M-A and fuck Y-O-U. =D

P.S. I did not propose that Obama proposed or signed this bill into law, I just hate him as much as I do Lieberman.

You know the very best part of freedom of speech? When idiots do not actually understand it and look like a retard trying to explain it to others. Which winds up making them look even more stupid.

Besides, isn't freedom of speech a right in your country, not a freedom or liberty?

That isn't inventing that's improving. That's like saying the guy who wrote the Safari app invented the iPhone.

It's more akin to saying the guy who invented the first computer code above binary invented the computer. Sure, he didn't invent the hardware, but he made it usable.

Another analogy might be saying the person who invented the combustion engine invented petrol. He didn't, it would still have been around, but no where near as useful.

Give credit where it is due. I know it's hard for Americans, very broadly speaking; but without that little British Berners-lee, this webpage and the words you are typing would not exist. The internet is just the communication hardware, the World Wide Web is every single web page, every browser, and every page-hosting server.

Yes, the international network of communication cables may well still exist, but not to as great an extent, as it is likely that usage would have remained limited to government and research institutions, and so capacity would have had little need to increase.

Freedom of Speech is one of the five or so things covered in the first amendment of the constitution which only applies to government power and has no affect on the private sector. In short, Vigilantis has no idea what he is talking about. On the topic of Mr. Berners-Lee. I am not saying he shouldn't receive credit for his work. What I am saying is that His work was not to invent the internet but to make it better than it already was. The internet worked before Berners-Lee's work. It just didn't work as well as it does now. Your analogies deal with inventions that could not be used without the other inventions or discoveries. That isn't an entirely accurate depiction of the internet so I find my analogy a little more applicable. Not the most applicable in the world but slightly more so than the examples you gave.

 

[Uberpig]

What is Cyber-911?
What is the equivalent of terrorists taking over planes full of people and murdering everyone inside the World Trade Centre?
What is wrong with Joe Lieberman?

Well, we know the answer to the third question. He's a dick. As for the answers to questions 1 and 2, I don't think even he has the first clue.

 

[PrarieDog_319]

Now I'll have to go outside.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Wha-
Hmm. Now they're trying to take over the internet?
Good job US government, you are going to make people all over want to kick your asses.

 

[khaimera]

How will they plug up all those tubes?

 

[Atmos Duality]

SERIOUSLY? CYBER 9/11???
How is that fucking possible?? How? HOW?!!!!
You can't kill people through the internet! You can't even take control of the bloody thing for any amount of time!
Businesses will crash. People will lose their jobs. Panic will ensue. Our emergency services (why yes, those are routed to Denver via the internet) will come to a grinding halt as they fall back on analogue lines.

BUT AT LEAST CYBER OSAMA CANT ATTACK ANYONE.

Oh...and you have no privacy, no rights, nothing on the internet. It will be like in China.

BUT AT LEAST CYBER OSAMA CANT HURT YOU

Which asshole proposed this nonsense....

....Joe Lieberman??
Oh gawd...it all becomes clear.
I'm sorry. But that guy is officially off his fucking rocker. He's transcended stupid, and has gone into full blown delusional behavior.
Is this because he lost his war against video games and now he wants to take revenge on our generation by killing the Internet?

Well done asshole. I hope this becomes the epitaph for your political career, because you are clearly unfit for any position of leadership.

If they implement this even once. The outcry will be epic.
Maybe that will get people to realize what sort of psychos we have running our country.

I propose this to my fellow American citizens. Motion to Impeach anyone who signs this legislation. I don't give a flying fuck about their creed, political party, or personal ties.
Impeach them. Immediately. This bill offers no benefit whatsoever to the American people nor the the world.

 

[superbatranger]

Does the word cyber-9/11 piss anyone else off?

Everything about this concept lost validity when "Cyber 9/11" came up. Scaremongering, that's all it is.

Oh no no no, it lost validity when "cyber-warrior" came up. What the hell? When I think of that word, I think of a kid playing World of Warcraft with his friends, or any one of us whenever we get on our computer or 360 or whatever means of gaming we use, and proceed to play online with and against people across the globe. That's what comes to mind when the word "cyber-warrior" comes up. Not whatever Lieberman is spitting out. I think his idea of one is someone with a tinfoil hat living in Grandma's basement with a bank of computers, servers, flat screen monitors stacked 3 high, old CB radios with messages of anarchy scrawled on the wall. You know, the stereotypical hacker.

Although, I kinda see what he's going with all this. But, I honestly find this notion of "turning off the internet" absurd and just plain stupid. How many modern services are linked to the internet? A fuck ton, last time I checked.

"Mr. President! The internet has been successfully switched off."
"Very good. Contact SOCOM, NORAD, CIA, NSA, DOD. Get everyone on the same page."
"Mr. President, I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Well, we communicated with everyone via channels on the Internet."
"Then use the phone!"
"No can do. When the internet went out the lines crashed."
"What? Why?"
"We didn't give an advance warning to the general public."
"What about radios? We still have radios, right?"
"We got rid of them."
"Who had the stupid idea of getting rid of the radios?"
"You did, sir. You wanted us to be more modern."
"Damn it. Turn the internet back on.."
"We can't. It's set so that it can't be turned on for 48 hours."
"48 hours?! Son of a!"

[sub][sub]This conversation was highly exaggerated, but I wouldn't be surprised if a conversation like this one were to actually happen.[/sub][/sub]

 

[Ironic]

if they shut of the internet, that'd cripple their own communication abilities

Not if they only shut off the internet FOR THE PUBLIC.

Dictatorship anyone?

 

[Jsnoopy]

Wha-
Hmm. Now they're trying to take over the internet?
Good job US government, you are going to make people all over want to kick your asses.

I think that already happened after 8 years of Bush as President....

 

[Simon Hadow]

Hoooo BOY! SOMEBODY got their pills mixed with their breakfast cereal the day this idea was cooked up!

 

[antigodoflife]

Wait.... What? A kill switch? Would there be warning beforehand or would we just be told "We're Turning off your Internetz! HA!"

Actually, part of me hopes they don't give out a warning, like if someone is watching a *Ahem* certain Genre of video and just as it actually starts doing what *ahem* it promises... BOOM! You have no internet!

Calumon: I hope this doesn't catch on.

If the video is loaded, then it'll still play when the internet goes, like all videos.

 

[antigodoflife]

if they shut of the internet, that'd cripple their own communication abilities

Not if they only shut off the internet FOR THE PUBLIC.

Dictatorship anyone?

No, America is a Plutocracy not a Dictatorship and although it's a slightly retarted form, America is still Democratic, or has the illusion of being so.

 

[Blatherscythe]

There has to be some sort of right or freedom that stops them from doing this, right? Their idea of helping people is to cut off one of their main sources of communication? This makes me glad I live in Canada, because the U.S is becoming more like a for-profit dictatorship. And as for 9/11, Osama did the damage and managed to spread so much fear, panic and paranioa that the U.S government is tearing up the country through unreasonable laws that restrict rights like this one, all he needs to do is hide for about 10 more years and the states will have killed itself!

 

[Kazturkey]

HA! Loving the mocking, Mr. Chalk. Cyber-this and Cyber-that

Mr. Government,
[/i]You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means[/i]

OT: Is this just for the US? Cus I'm questioning why they would have any right to turn off British internet, considering A) They HAVE no right and B) We technically invented it

No, a team led by a british scientist invented it in switzerland. BRITAIN did not invent it.

 

[zohmbee]

Because THAT'S a good idea. Seriously, people panic when their internet goes out for five minutes. And what the hell would "Cyber 9-11" entail exactly? Stupid idea.
(Sorry if that's been answered; I'm not reading all 15 pages to find out)