Internet 'kill switch' proposed for US

Internet 'kill switch' proposed for US

www.zdnet.com.au

A new US Senate Bill would grant the President far-reaching emergency powers to seize control of, or even shut down, portions of the internet.

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.

That emergency authority would allow the Federal Government to "preserve those networks and assets and our country and protect our people," Joe Lieberman, the prim

(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow...Just wow...Firs they are trying to control our tv www.abovetopsecret.com... now this. What's next kill switches for all vehicles? How about the people, can we get kill switches for politicians?
"Oh look Senator _____ said _____"
DjDoubt pushes button and said Senator is temporarily muted until he thinks about what he is going to say, do or try to make into law.

www.zdnet.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Pfft, you think taking away peoples guns will cause an uprising?

I dare them to do this. They have no idea the enormity of the hornets nest they will be messing with.

well this doesn't surprise me - the United States is always trying to police and control the world. ¿why don't they just stay where they are and just leave all other countries alone? I thought the Internet was suposed to be for everyone - not just the U.S's

That would be a real blow to the economy, to begin with.....pretty much every business in the US uses the internet to conduct their daily activities.
I do agree....if you cut off my internet, I will be royally pissed, along with 300 million other Americans...

Homeland Security is the reason.....that doesnt make sense does it?

What makes you think they haven't got the kill switches already? All I'm really reading here is that they want to give the POTUS the power to push them.

IRM

reply to post by Lynzer


Not to mention the number of individuals who would actively # with the government at that point in time.

Trust me, I know these people. I know how they think. I know what they can do. And if this ever happened, there won't be a US government network, website, or otherwise left standing.

Originally posted by SpectreDC
Pfft, you think taking away peoples guns will cause an uprising?

I dare them to do this. They have no idea the enormity of the hornets nest they will be messing with.

World of Warcraft.

That crowd is brutal when they can't play their game.

reply to post by Djdoubt03

"preserve those networks and assets and
our country and protect our people,"

Kind of like "kill them to save them."

"we cannot afford to wait for a cyber 9/11 before our government
realises the importance of protecting our cyber resources

...yes, how terrible it would be if terrorists were to take down the internet. We'd better take it down to stop them.

"Our economic security, national security and public safety
are now all at risk from new kinds of enemies — cyber-warriors,
cyber-spies, cyber-terrorists and cyber-criminals."

And why do they not include themselves on that list, I wonder.

This is all BS.

Like Wikileaks.. if you cannot stop Wikileaks, you can shut down the ISP's. I say we need a global satellite internet service ( or something like it) that our Gov cannot shut down.

They are bitching that their Government systems are not secure.. so.. instead of hurting the people.. take the Government systems off of the internet.

Or better yet.. fix the problem with the security holes in those systems. The Gov's inaction and inability to do these things reflects poorly on them at the expense of the American people.





[edit on 18-6-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Do not forget the farmville folks! LOL

Not gonna fly. People shut down the internet when they have something to hide.
That would be a VERY bad idea here.

That would be a real blow to the economy,

The real blow to the economy would be the US power grid going down do to a internet attack.

All the wind turbines making commercial power in the US are under control using the internet.
Many of the grid switches are under control using the internet.
Many power plants use the internet for control.

This means that a hacker working for the government in china could shut down the power grids in the US with the right information,
cyber war

Shut down the internet or the internet goes down do to lack of power.
Even cutting all the feeders coming in from china would not protect the system.
Commands could be rooted through other countries.
Cutting all feeders coming into the US would still not protect the grid as viruses could be planted that would still shut down the power grid using bots.

That leaves shutting down everything in the US but non esensial feeds.(shutting down the public)

but the protection is that there would be warning and clues that there was a real cyber attack.
www.csmonitor.com...

Fake attacks would not show the evidence that a attack was happening and companies like google, yahoo, and msn, would know that the attack was fake.
Also the targets own in house ITs would know if it was a real attack.

The government will be dammed if the hit the kill switch and dammed if they don't.

Originally posted by draevin
World of Warcraft.

That crowd is brutal when they can't play their game.

Yes. Many will lose it without their internet.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c1a28adbd543.jpg[/atsimg]

Not to mention the impact it will have on business. I'd say things would have to be pretty bad already before they could do this without causing outrage.

But they shouldn't have the power to do it at all. It's the ultimate power to destroy free speech, and would obviously be abused.

Doing a Google search for the first couple of sentences in the OP's article shows literally thousands of results, so it's not new. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Carrie Bickmore, the female talking-head anchor on the 7PM Melbourne TV news show, just said words to the effect:

"It's like the President being able to shut down the airports in an emergency. You would rather have him shut them down, than not shut them down and something bad happens."

Not a direct quote, I'm going from memory about what she said.


Thanks, Carrie. We don't need you to remind us that it's ok to hand control of the internet over to someone else's whim. Moron.

reply to post by Djdoubt03


Just a few examples of what would be affected.

Banking (Money transfer, Cash points [ATMs])
Hospitals (Patient records)
Airlines and Ferries (Bookings, boarding cards on-line)
PayPal (Payment for goods)
Email
Home workers
Drone bombing ()
Power station controls and the National Grid.

Switch off the A Server and lets not have everything controlled in the USA.

Now consider this, a network they cannot turn off.

[edit on 18/6/2010 by PuterMan]

Yeah, the same exact thing was proposed under the Bush administration (most likely under the Patriot Act...I can't remember) and probably under the Clinton administration too (I can't be bothered to look). Someone definitely has an agenda to push it, that's for sure.

As someone said, it doesn't make a bit of difference if there's a bill or not. If they want to attempt to "kill" it they can.

I think our focus and energy would be better spent on oil-rig kill switches.

Here's an interesting little sidebar for those who might see some irony in this The Conference on Cyber Dissidents: Global Successes and Challenges brought to us by the George W. Bush Institute.

One of the ironic quotes from the conference? “The reason I was worried about a think tank is because all people would do is think,” Bush said.

Alex Jones commented about this conference by saying, ""These are the same people who put together the Patriot Act, warrant-less wiretapping, torture. Bush started the cyber security initiative that allowed the president to shut off the Internet and bring in draconian controls in the U.S. So this is a sick joke, them out promoting themselves as the great defenders of liberty and freedom worldwide."

reply to post by SonicInfinity


You're right. It's not new.



[edit on 18-6-2010 by ~Lucidity]

I dont understand the reasoning behind wanting to switch off the internet.

What good can it possibly do for the government?

Is it to stop people communicating with the rest of the world? maybe knock out the phone networks at the same time?

I would be lost without the internet and my phone

Time to buy myself a CB just incase.

I can only imagine the enormous backlash that this would cause.
They think hackers and viruses are a problem now! There would undoubtedly be a concerted effort by DROVES of e-files to show the government whats up. Things would likely get ugly.