by Paul Thompson
"President Obama will be given the power to shut down the Internet with a 'kill switch' in a new law being proposed in the US. He would be able to order popular search engines such a Google and Yahoo to suspend access to their websites in times of national emergency. Other US based Internet service providers as well as broadband providers would also come under his control in times of a 'cybersecurity emergency.' Any company that failed to comply would be subject to huge fines.
Critics of the new law, which has been proposed by former presidential candidate Joe Liebermann, said it would be an abuse of power to let the White House control the internet. TechAmerica, one of the largest U.S. technology lobby groups, said the new law had the 'potential for absolute power'.
The proposed legislation, introduced into the US Senate by Lieberman who is chairman of the US Homeland Security committee, seeks to grant the President broad emergency powers over the internet in times of national emergency. A sustained terror attack on multiple cities would be considered a national emergency as would a cyber attack by 'hackers' on the US financial system. The director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair warned earlier this year that the US is 'severely threatened' by malicious cyber attacks. The number of attacks on Government departments has increased by 400 per cent in the last three years.
Under the proposed bill, which has been dubbed an 'Internet kill switch', the US Government would effectively seize control of access to the internet. Lieberman argued the bill was necessary to 'preserve those networks and assets and our country and protect our people'. He said: "For all of its 'user-friendly' allure, the Internet can also be a dangerous place with electronic pipelines that run directly into everything from our personal bank accounts to key infrastructure to government and industrial secrets. 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." His bill is formally titled the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, or PCNAA.
While the US Government would not be able to control the internet in other countries access to the most popular sites would be cut off. Google,Yahoo and YouTube, the top three most visited sites, are all based in the US. Google logs an estimated two billion hits a day from 300 million users.
Under the cyber law any company on a list created by Homeland Security that also 'relies on' the Internet, the telephone system, or any other component of the U.S. 'information infrastructure' would be subject to command by a new National Centre for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC) that would be created inside Homeland Security. Google, the world's most popular search engine, refused to comment. A spokesman said the law was not yet Government policy."
- http://www.sott.net/articles/show/210669
14 comments:
Sounds like there may be a free speech issue with this bill...and why is LIEberman still chairman of anything?
JC:
What was that? What did you say?
You are not coming in too clearly.
Can you hear me now????
Are you still there??? :-)
My Answer to your Question.
Because AIPAC demands it.
Yes indeed, fear of the boogie man is boring deeper and deeper in the American psyche...which is why they might get away with this shit.
J:
Exactly. We have now been programmed to fear even ourselves. Obama reinforced the fear card by inserting his little comment about >our brave troops are taking the fight to A/Q WHERE EVER THEY MAY BE.< During his lame oil spill speech.
Very telling.
"...wherever they may be"...I didn't catch that. Lovely. Justferkinggreat!
J:
http://realityzone-realityzone.blogspot.com/2010/06/obamas-speech-was-canned-oil-spill.html
RZ, thank you for the link. I read it, and commented.
J:
did i not see your avatar up on a Dao site that I joined? I forget which one it was.
RZ you lost me on this one.
J:
I was looking at a few DAO DE CHING BLOGS. I hit the follow button on a few of them. I thought I saw you as one of the followers also.
Oh,I see. The Quotable I Ching, most likely.
Yep, I found it. What do you think of the mayan i ching 2012 thread that i just put up.
That LIEberman is behind this assault on our freedom of speech is no surprise.
Count me as one who wonders why this clown is still even a Senator, let alone any sort of chairman of a committee.
America, what a country?
RZ tried to leave a comment on the I Ching post, couldn't hear the audio word verification. My comment:
If it is true, nothing can be done about it, and let's hope it's quick. If it is not true, we keep on plodding along. In either case, not much point on dwelling on it, methinks.
Post a Comment