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.”
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.
5 comments:
Don't blame the kids with the flip cam, the congressman is the one who lost his cool like a fool
The people (or the sheep and mice) who believe everything the government tells them without question will now be lead to believe that the internet, up to now free and uninhibited, MUST be "controlled". Might as well tax it, too....and go ahead and give us ( the government) the "emergency" power to shut it down, just in case, uh, you know, uh, well, uh, we don't like whats being said ...perhaps involving say, some seditious behavior...the internet is obviously "broken", so lets start "fixing" it, and of course, the government is SO good at "fixing" things...
The Patriots in this country need to develop a co-ordinated system of communication other than the internet, so when the time comes we will be ready to fight back against the takeover.
When will the people wake up and realize that if we all allow the government to take over we are all screwed it angers me to no end the direction this country has gone since Reagan was in office. People are too P/C these days and wont speak up or do something for fear they might upset or piss somebody off ..... i say screw all you whiney people get a backbone otherwise 1984 will become a reality and if this pisses anyone off or hurts feelings too bad. grow a set and get along with life and stop letting the government walk all over you
Sounds to me like there are a LOT of people fed up with government power, intrusion, arrogance, and bullying... Jefferson and Madison, Adams, Franklin, Henry, and a host of others are in heaven praying for us.....I used to be called "radical" because i said these same things...there is a growing chorus of "fight the power"...buy guns, ammo, stock up on water and canned goods....its comin', baby...AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
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