Cybersecurity Act would give president power to 'shut down' Internet

[danarhea]

This report is chilling in its implications on the free flow of information to the American people. Under the bill, which is written in extremely broad language, the President would have the right to shut down the internet, irrespective of all existing laws.

President Bush did things that favored a police state in America, and I thought it could not get any worse. Was I ever wrong. Obama wants to turn America, not just into a police state, but into a freaking ant farm.

This is not the American way. Write or email your Congressman and Senator, and let them know that you will not tolerate this ability for the government to clamp down on freedom like this. What our government is attempting flies in the face of the First Amendment.

Article is here.

 

[First Thought]

So, much like the Patriot Act with Bush, this is would be Obama's attempt at silencing opposition. Very interesting, let's see if it gets passed.

 

[Dr_Patrick]

This report is chilling in its implications on the free flow of information to the American people. Under the bill, which is written in extremely broad language, the President would have the right to shut down the internet, irrespective of all existing laws.

President Bush did things that favored a police state in America, and I thought it could not get any worse. Was I ever wrong. Obama wants to turn America, not just into a police state, but into a freaking ant farm.

This is not the American way. Write or email your Congressman and Senator, and let them know that you will not tolerate this ability for the government to clamp down on freedom like this. What our government is attempting flies in the face of the First Amendment.

Article is here.

Except that Obama didn't author this. It was Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine. The White House hasn't even officially endorsed it. When and if they do I'll be right there with you ready to criticize.

 

[Ikari]

So, much like the Patriot Act with Bush, this is would be Obama's attempt at silencing opposition. Very interesting, let's see if it gets passed.

Not so much, Obama is pretty much the same as Bush so I expected the same ****. I'd just hope that the whole of us, not just Bush or Obama supporters would get sick and tired of it all and band together to tell the government to back the **** off.

 

[BulletWounD]

Not so much, Obama is pretty much the same as Bush so I expected the same ****. I'd just hope that the whole of us, not just Bush or Obama supporters would get sick and tired of it all and band together to tell the government to back the **** off.

That's when they declare us "terrorists" and detain/torture/execute us.

 

[Ikari]

That's when they declare us "terrorists" and detain/torture/execute us.

Not tough to do given some people's definition of "terrorist".

 

[BulletWounD]

Not tough to do given some people's definition of "terrorist".

Make no mistake about it. If the US Government ever becomes tyrannical (which it is, incrementally, every day) and there is a popular revolt, all of these investments the government has made in "anti-terror" and "counter-insurgency" technology and doctrines will be used to crush us like bugs. The only hope that we would have is that the military and police forces would be on our side (or mostly so).

 

[Ikari]

Make no mistake about it. If the US Government ever becomes tyrannical (which it is, incrementally, every day) and there is a popular revolt, all of these investments the government has made in "anti-terror" and "counter-insurgency" technology and doctrines will be used to crush us like bugs. The only hope that we would have is that the military and police forces would be on our side (or mostly so).

That's the truth. And I wouldn't say it's incremental every day; I think we're mostly there and taking leaps and bounds to get there faster. All in the name of "safety" or "terrorism" or some other propaganda bull**** made to justify the increase of government over our rights and liberties. It's especially hypocritical and sad when this comes out of the right, since they had used to be against this. And some will still claim to be against this while supporting it. Double speak, perpetual war, irrational hatred towards a mostly unseen enemy....it's 1984 make no bones about it. We're just cementing up a few things here before it goes into full force.

 

[First Thought]

That's the truth. And I wouldn't say it's incremental every day; I think we're mostly there and taking leaps and bounds to get there faster. All in the name of "safety" or "terrorism" or some other propaganda bull**** made to justify the increase of government over our rights and liberties. It's especially hypocritical and sad when this comes out of the right, since they had used to be against this. And some will still claim to be against this while supporting it. Double speak, perpetual ware, irrational hatred towards a mostly unseen enemy....it's 1984 make no bones about it. We're just cementing up a few things here before it goes into full force.

The Proles hold all of the power and they don't even know it...

 

[BulletWounD]

That's the truth. And I wouldn't say it's incremental every day; I think we're mostly there and taking leaps and bounds to get there faster. All in the name of "safety" or "terrorism" or some other propaganda bull**** made to justify the increase of government over our rights and liberties. It's especially hypocritical and sad when this comes out of the right, since they had used to be against this. And some will still claim to be against this while supporting it. Double speak, perpetual war, irrational hatred towards a mostly unseen enemy....it's 1984 make no bones about it. We're just cementing up a few things here before it goes into full force.

I think we can reverse a lot of it. There is still hope until we lose our democratic privileges. That is the tipping point of no return which would make revolution 100% necessary and desirable.

Having said that, most of the changes we need to make are at the bottom in terms of public awareness and reversing complacency.

 

[stevenb]

Make no mistake about it. If the US Government ever becomes tyrannical (which it is, incrementally, every day) and there is a popular revolt, all of these investments the government has made in "anti-terror" and "counter-insurgency" technology and doctrines will be used to crush us like bugs. The only hope that we would have is that the military and police forces would be on our side (or mostly so).

Meh, I think you're doubting the populus a lot here.


If there ever was enough motivation for a popular revolt... I think **** would change quickly... no doubt there would be lots of lost life, but I don't think the government would have as much resources as you think.

One of the best reasons to have a volunteer army that comprises of citizens.. it's much harder for it to go police state on our asses without HUGE dissention(sp?) in the ranks.

 

[BulletWounD]

Meh, I think you're doubting the populus a lot here.


If there ever was enough motivation for a popular revolt... I think **** would change quickly... no doubt there would be lots of lost life, but I don't think the government would have as much resources as you think.

One of the best reasons to have a volunteer army that comprises of citizens.. it's much harder for it to go police state on our asses without HUGE dissention(sp?) in the ranks.

Yep. ALL of the members of the Armed Forces and police I've ever known love our country and our Constitution. If the government thinks they'll turn against us, they're sadly mistaken. These are the guys that love our country the most, willing to sacrifice their lives in the line of duty. (although I'm sure there are a few bad eggs in there)

 

[stevenb]

Yep. ALL of the members of the Armed Forces and police I've ever known love our country and our Constitution. If the government thinks they'll turn against us, they're sadly mistaken. These are the guys that love our country the most, willing to sacrifice their lives in the line of duty. (although I'm sure there are a few bad eggs in there)

of course there are always the crazies.

 

[BulletWounD]

The problem is this: is it possible for the government to change the fundamental nature of our society, and thus the armed forces to suit their agenda? I think they might, and bills like [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIVE_Act"]the GIVE Act[/ame] may go a long way in promoting their "government knows best" agenda.

 

[Hatuey]

How do you 'shut down' the internet?

 

[Ikari]

How do you 'shut down' the internet?

I wouldn't know, but China's probably got ideas. They already censor it heavily there, so shutting it down isn't much more than that. Isn't it wonderful how close to China our own government is getting. Super awesome!

 

[Arch Enemy]

This is just a bunch of insane Dems kicking around an idea. I am fairly sure they just want the showmanship award.

I expect this to die.

 

[Dr_Patrick]

How do you 'shut down' the internet?

You simply connect a portable on/off switch to a computer with an internet connection via USB port. :mrgreen:

 

[BulletWounD]

This is just a bunch of insane Dems kicking around an idea. I am fairly sure they just want the showmanship award.

I expect this to die.

I doubt it. This will gain bipartisan support due to the sensationalized "threat" of "cyber terrorism."

 

[Zyphlin]

How do you 'shut down' the internet?

You shove a bunch of toilet paper into the "Tubes". That always seems to work with the toilet

 

[GottaHurt]

How do you 'shut down' the internet?

Install Windows on the servers.

 

[Arch Enemy]

How do you 'shut down' the internet?

There was a South Park episode that held the answers, I believe.

 

[BulletWounD]

I found this post on a technology forum. I'll reproduce it here for your viewing pleasure.

"shut down the tubes" meaning what, exactly? a router? all routers? core or edge or both? BGP sessions? exchange points? private or public?

what I'm driving at here is that the fundamental nature of the Internet, its very definition, is a number of independent networks agreeing to exchange traffic in a decentralized manner. Even shutting down a single large provider (e.g. MCI/UUNet/Verizon/AS701) is an nonsensical statement - what specifically are you shutting down? There are thousands of routers, peering connections, internal interconnects, hand-offs to smaller providers who in turn interconnect and hand off to still smaller providers ... the architecture very much resembles a fractal for the larger providers.

Now multiply that complexity by a dozen and you've covered probably 90% of the carriers in the US ... but wait, some of these aren't US based carriers! We have quite a few carriers with circuits or presence in the US where the organization is legally located elsewhere. What do you do then?

Telling AT&T to shut down (assuming you can even define that; let's say you mean disconnect from every other provider they peer with, and shutting down their tens of thousands of client connections) would cause damage, but would do little more than isolate AT&T from the rest of the world.

This legislation is an incredibly bad idea for a number of reasons, but the risk it poses to the availability of the Internet as a whole is not one of them.

Just another case of the pre-internet generation pretending they understand the internet... Nothing to see here. Move along.

 

[Arch Enemy]

I swear to God, hell hath no fury like college students who cannot log onto Facebook to upload pictures from last-night's wet t-shirt contest.

 

[stevenb]

Shutting down the intertubes isn't nearly as hard as you guys think.

First would go the intercontinental links... severing us from the outside world.

Second would come the interstate links... ie: shutting down key routers in the country... This wouldn't last long as secondary routers would step up and start doing the work...

But if you could make a company turn it's fiber off... you could shut down internet for areas of people, pretty easily.