Posted on 06/18/2010 3:05:21 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Is cyberspace about to get censored?
Confronting threats ranging from Chinese superhackers to the release of secret documents on WikiLeaks and other whistleblowing websites, the Obama administration may be on the verge of assuming broad new powers to regulate the Internet on national-security grounds.
The powers are granted to the White House under a bipartisan bill that was introduced in the Senate only last week but is already moving quickly through Congress toward passage. The legislation has generated considerable buzz on tech blogs—but drawn little notice so far by major news organizations.
“The way it seems to be worded, the bill could easily represent a threat to free speech,” said Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The bill would grant President Obama the power to declare a “national cyber-emergency” at his discretion and force private companies tied to the Web, including Internet service providers and search engines, to take action in response—moves that could include limiting or even cutting off their connections to the World Wide Web for up to 30 days. While the bill’s sponsors say it is intended to create a shield to defend the United States and its largest companies from the growing threat of cyberattacks, civil-liberties activists tell The Daily Beast they fear the bill could give the White House the ability to effectively shut down portions of the Internet for reasons that could prove to be politically inspired.
“We have seen through recent history that in an emergency, the Executive Branch will interpret grants of power very broadly,” said Gregory Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a group that promotes Internet freedom. He said the bill, which he described as moving “at lightning speed in congressional terms,” was too loosely worded in its definition of which companies would be regulated
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Only if he wants the perfect excuse.....
It could come to that if the American people let it.
Lock and Load
Molon Labe
unconstitutional?
Teens and young’ns would vote GOP for 2 generations if they shut down the Internet.....
Gee, I wonder who and what he's referring to. Is he saying thate he doesn't want Obama to be like Bush?
Does that mean we could only visit DU and Huffingglue Post ?
Whether or not Obama shuts down the internet on some pretext or cyber-terrorists do it, it’s very important to make sure you have hard copies of anything online necessary to your survival.
Millions of porn addicts will vote him out :>)
Millions of Democrats will vote him out :>)
(did I just repeat myself?)
I seriously doubt he can shut it down. How many businesses use internet daily for commerce, training, sales?
Obama may be reaching for power...but that move would be a complete disaster. Talk about a revolution?
You start playing games with Electric Power and internet and only the WHOLE WORLD will come down on your head.
I asked, a few days ago, but never got an opinion....
If Obambie were to shut the USA off from the internet, how would it affect the rest of the world’s users and ISPs?
I assume it would still function, but with no URLs from the USA.
Not when they are spoon fed the lies of the left. It will be Bush’s fault or big oil or big internet or whatever.
As I’ve said before. Wake up. This is what communism looks like when it’s coming down the tracks.
How about we shut down the FCC instead? The only things we need to regulate are CONgre$$, the czars, the FCC, EPA, the thuggish and traitorous Zero administration — NOT the internet or the financial sector.
The President has had similar power over radio and TV for years.
The internet is more decentralized, but to do what they’re talking about would mean essentially a big firewall ahead of the US root servers. Probably technically feasible, and it would stop 99.999 percent of internet traffic in the US.
But there are ways to access the internet without going through US-based servers. Via satellite, for example, as not all satellites have to remain in a fixed position over the US (a Molnya type orbit, for example) and could store-and-forward to the internet through another country. There’s also HF shortwave radio. Not high bandwidth, but if someone is determined to find a way to communicate, there is no such thing as a “master switch”.
OBAMA WANTS TO CONTROL EVERYTHING – FROM THE PILLS YOU TAKE TO THE KEYSTROKES YOU MAKE.
My son and I talked about this last night. The short answer in no, not for long. A hack version would be up again in a month, and with zero federal control. 802.11 links can be constructed with a soup can and you can buy the technology at a yard sale... by hundreds of thousands of high school kids.
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