Posted on 06/17/2010 9:07:52 AM PDT by patriotgal1787
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Wednesday, June 16, 2010 The federal government would have “absolute power” to shut down the Internet under the terms of a new US Senate bill being pushed by Joe Lieberman, legislation which would hand President Obama a figurative “kill switch” to seize control of the world wide web in response to a Homeland Security directive.
Lieberman has been pushing for government regulation of the Internet for years under the guise of cybersecurity, but this new bill goes even further in handing emergency powers over to the feds which could be used to silence free speech under the pretext of a national emergency.
“The legislation says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines or software firms that the US Government selects “shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed” by the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone failing to comply would be fined,” reports ZDNet’s Declan McCullagh.
The 197-page bill (PDF) is entitled Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, or PCNAA.
Technology lobbying group TechAmerica warned that the legislation created “the potential for absolute power,” while the Center for Democracy and Technology worried that the bill’s emergency powers “include authority to shut down or limit internet traffic on private systems.”
The bill has the vehement support of Senator Jay Rockefeller, who last year asked during a congressional hearing, “Would it had been better if we’d have never invented the Internet?” while fearmongering about cyber-terrorists preparing attacks.
The largest Internet-based corporations are seemingly happy with the bill, primarily because it contains language that will give them immunity from civil lawsuits and also reimburse them for any costs incurred if the Internet is shut down for a period of time.
“If there’s an “incident related to a cyber vulnerability” after the President has declared an emergency and the affected company has followed federal standards, plaintiffs’ lawyers cannot collect damages for economic harm. And if the harm is caused by an emergency order from the Feds, not only does the possibility of damages virtually disappear, but the US Treasury will even pick up the private company’s tab,” writes McCullagh.
Tom Gann, McAfee’s vice president for government relations, described the bill as a “very important piece of legislation”.
As we have repeatedly warned for years, the federal government is desperate to seize control of the Internet because the establishment is petrified at the fact that alternative and independent media outlets are now eclipsing corporate media outlets in terms of audience share, trust, and influence.
We witnessed another example of this on Monday when establishment Congressman Bob Etheridge was publicly shamed after he was shown on video assaulting two college students who asked him a question. Two kids with a flip cam and a You Tube account could very well have changed the course of a state election, another startling reminder of the power of the Internet and independent media, and why the establishment is desperate to take that power away.
The government has been searching for any avenue possible through which to regulate free speech on the Internet and strangle alternative media outlets, with the FTC recently proposing a “Drudge Tax” that would force independent media organizations to pay fees that would be used to fund mainstream newspapers.
Similar legislation aimed at imposing Chinese-style censorship of the Internet and giving the state the power to shut down networks has already been passed globally, including in the UK, New Zealand and Australia.
We have extensively covered efforts to scrap the internet as we know it and move toward a greatly restricted “internet 2″ system. Handing government the power to control the Internet would only be the first step towards this system, whereby individual ID’s and government permission would be required simply to operate a website.
The Lieberman bill needs to be met with fierce opposition at every level and from across the political spectrum. Regulation of the Internet would not only represent a massive assault on free speech, it would also create new roadblocks for e-commerce and as a consequence further devastate the economy.
If the Liberals/Dems/Commies realized that they were going to lose an election by a huge margin. In their eyes THAT fact would require emergency action...
Pigs.
If the gov’t gains the power to shut down the Internet, and uses that power, most companies in the U.S. and most other countries as well would not be able to perform daily business. Billions of files are transferred between companies every day via the Internet. Orders are taken and shipping is tracked, banking, reservations, etc.etc. In addition to personel use.
I cannot imagine any rational reason why the gov’t would need to shut it down. I think this is just the first step in the gov’t eventually gaining total control of the Internet, and what a damn pity that would be. Everything will be monitored.
Kiss your freedom goodbye.
If the idiots were to use the Internet for that purpose, they would just be shooting themselves in the foot. Who would vote for them after they shut down the Internet? Even the ones to the extreme left would be screaming.
This is nothing but control. If we had such a diaster then the internet is a place to be. People and families can find each other if their computers and locations have not been affected. They could do more help for people than one could imagine. Networking is the way to go. This is nothing but trying to snuff out free speech in the guise of shutting us down for a diaster.
Well, there ya go all you young people who thought obama was the do all be all. You live your lives by the internet and all it offers...see what your life will be like without it cause if it gets shut down once my friends...it will get shut down for good! Wake up America!!
1984...........
This is ridiculous!....
The only legitimate shutdown of the internet would be to defend against an attack such as the one Russia made on the Republic of Georgia. However, that argues for a more robust system, not a more hobbled one. We currently use the internet for the control of significant portions of the power grid and other infrastructure needs, in addition to U.S. military applications (the original use of ARPANET). So, the feds should invest more in the technology needed to protect that infrastructure instead of just shrugging their shoulders, as recently happened when a Pentagon spokesman was asked about that possibility. You know, that whole
“protect and defend” thingy.
Control of the internet is simply control of another part of your life. And THAT is what the “progressives” are all about.
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