U.S. Government Proposes "Internet Kill Switch"

[Magic Cheese]

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

Whoa, whoa, whoa there, scooter. Everyone knows the great God-king Al Gore invented the internet, not some stinkin' Brit.*

In all seriousness, Lieberman mentions something about a "cyber 9/11"? God, are our public officials still using 9/11 as an excuse to robs us of our freedoms? Between America's "The war on Terrorism" and Australia's obsession with dragging their entire country kicking and screaming back into the 50's "for the good of the children" '1984' is looking less and less like a work of fiction.


*Jokes.

 

[z3rostr1fe]

Orwellian Totalitarianism to ensue after such event... May God help us all... :O

 

[LogicNProportion]

L-Lieberman.......please...

J...J-Just stop...

...please?

 

[KaiRai]

Wow. He sounds like a schizophrenic, except the government is out to get......wait.......

Bottom line, this dude sounds paranoid

 

[Squaseghost]

Oh, Lieberman! What zany right-wing paranoid fear-mongering will you bring us next? And, more importantly, what civil liberties crushing solution will you propose?

Gut miranda rights? Check. Deny accused criminals other basic rights? Check. Pave the way for a government seizure of the internet? Check.

I could have sworn Lieberman was an Independent Democrat. So wouldn't he be left wing? Or is that the problem? I haven't paid much attention with politics, they've increasingly made me jaded and depressed.

That's what I thought too, Wikipedia has him as an Independent Democrat, and he Caucuses with them.

Also.. This is so bogus! They don't have the right to do that!

 

[wax88]

Whaaaaaaaaaat?

This is insane. I cannot think of any event that is even remotely feasible that would require the entire internet to be turned off.

only one...skynet....

 

[Feystar]

Well other than skynet taking over the internet (and lets face it skynet would most likely spot it and disable it straight away), all it would do is create a great big target for people to try and hack their way in to, or maybe for a disgruntled ISP employee wanting payback.

Anyway it's in too many other countries for the US government to just flick a switch and take it all down, at best they could sever the links to the states.

 

[Flig]

Cyber9/11...so they can kill thousands of people through the internet?

 

[Alphaeus47]

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

Firefly fan, by any chance?

OT: But yeah, you can't stop the internet functioning as a system, but you can cut the entire country's access =/
Unfortunately I can see this coming in during a "crisis", along with marshal law and heavy enforcement of the patriot act.
Goodbye independent media, au revoir freedom of speech, hello dictatorship.

 

[nofear220]

Oh yeah?

Well the US government can suck my cock.

You should watch what you say on the internet, they like to abuse their power

 

[xXTheParadoxXx]

doesn't this technically mean that the US government could hold the world to ransom?

 

[Marowit]

To the Government-

This is the wrong lesson to glean from the protests in Iran last year.

Thanks for the time...

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

Nice cover story Lieberman. I can see all the lawsuits that will be filed against the US government if this bill goes through. This just directly cock-slaps the first amendment.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

"We cannot afford to wait for a cyber-9/11 before our government realizes the importance of protecting our cyber-resources," said bill co-sponsor Senator Susan Collins.

Oh God! Won't somebody think of the cyber-children!

Also, I get nervous anytime there is talk about stuff like this. I wonder how it would affect us foreigners. Though I suppose that's not really the point.

I think it's silly that, in a moment of hypothetical crisis, they think it's a good idea to paralyze all other parts of the country. (Or the world.)

Now all we need is for the cyber-shareholders to panic and we'll be cyber-screwed.

Cyber-9/11? What the fuck could the terrorists do? Do they employ professional hackers?

 

[Dalamard]

I am the cyber-ninja

 

[elricik]

You can't turn of the internet, its impossible. You'd have to like EMP the entire world, and even then you'd destroy EVERY electronic device that ever existed and send us back to the stone age. Way to go Obama, not only did you delete the internet, you deleted everything.

 

[gl1koz3]

Oxygen kill switch next, anyone? Because some people are criminals and you can actually interact with anything.

 

[Something Amyss]

Lieberman has talked big in the past. I don't like his ideas, but the fortunate thing is they rarely come to fruition. Especially when someone with more tech sense than him points out how FREAKING stupid they are.

 

[oranger]

Isn't this a real life echelon V? wow...evil stuff.