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Will Congress Give Obama the ‘Mubarak Option’?
When millions took to the streets of Egypt last week to protest the Mubarak regime and call for democratic reform, the Egyptian government responded by cutting off Internet access and people's ability to communicate with one another and the outside world.
Such drastic action is a new way for governments to smother popular movements worldwide... just as more and more people are turning to Twitter, Facebook and Youtube and using cell phones to mobilize for social chance and speak out against authoritarian regimes.
What's very worrying is that Congress is weighing legislation in the U.S. that could give our president the authority to flip the "kill switch" on the Internet and plunge the nation into digital darkness.
Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Thomas Carper (D-Dela.) introduced legislation in the last Congress that would give the Executive Branch far-reaching authority to cut off "critical infrastructure" in times of crisis.
The "Protect Cyberspace as a National Asset Act" wasn't passed in 2010. But, according to a recent report in Wired, Sens. Collins and Lieberman plan to reintroduce the bill in the new Congress. The bill as written offers a vague definition of what constitutes an emergency, and fails to create effective checks and balances.
Confronted by overwhelmingly negative public response, sparked in part by theWired story, the senators have gone on the defensive about the legislation. They issued a statement on Tuesday offering assurances that they do not seek to create a "kill switch" over the Internet.
Whatever the intentions, the reportedly broad, ambiguous language of the bill and its lack of safeguards for individual freedoms are deeply troubling. We need to be certain that no bill gives government the authority to cut off Internet access. Such power, in the hands of the top executive, poses a drastic threat to our First Amendment right to free speech and assembly.
The events in Egypt show the power of the Internet in fostering free speech and reform. Both progressive and conservative activists in the U.S. have relied on the organizing capacity of the Web and social networks to build popular movements as well.
We must guard against any effort to curtail our access to the open Internet. Take action here and stay tuned as this story continues to develop.
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22 Comments so far
Show AllOnly the truly evil amongst us can be killed with information.
The people who would want to shut off the internet, are such evil.
Information lets people organize.
The people who want an internet kill switch are organized, informed people.
So true, just look at the "representatives" (sorry, sineaters) that proposed this tidbit. One has to look under a lot of mossy rocks to find the likes of Joe LIEberman and Susan Collins.
Whose surprised that Lieberprick thought that one up. Always the authoritarian that one. He's the asshole that brought us the fascistic Homeland Security Dept. after 9/11 and the Patriot act as well. he's a dangerous man.
This kind of authority exists elsewhere: GPS signals.
The GPS constellation is a bunch of military satellites. In the early days of the constellation, the DoD allowed lo-res channels to be used by consumers. Since then, the hi-res military channels have been opened to the public. Built into this system is a "kill switch" that will disable either the hi-res channel, or both the hi- and lo-res channels, yet still enable navigation by military systems. Now that civil aviation uses GPS almost exclusively for navigation, the DoD finds itself in a quandary in that flipping the "kill switch" without a lot of notice will have every aircraft in the air forced to fly by visual, with disastrous results. Ditto waterway vessels.
This is one of the ways that the military can defend itself against all those Second Amendment militias. Once the kill switch is flipped, all the wannabe militias won't be able to find their way to the corner store.
Well, they can't ban 7.5 minute quad maps, compasses and altimeters. WHo need GPS to figure out where they are and where they're going for Pete's sake?
Find me one under the age of 25. Boy Scouts of America award many more badges for GPS activities than map reading.
Map reading is a dying art.
Dear WTF:
Then, if there's a kill switch, I supose that more citizens will become HAM operators if they are afraid of this happening I just met one and he doesn't seem to worry about the internet going down.
Besides, if the military cut the kill switch, then how would THEY know what was going on? Wouldn't the chain of command be paralyzed too?
I think that the real gun users, the ones who prcatice their "craft," and really know what they are doing, would be fine. A voiceless and deaf military would be kind of like the British redcoats marching in pristine lines; really easy targets for the colonials. That seems to be happening with the citizens that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in spite of all that U.S. communication equipment. .
Sorry if I presented a confusing argument; if DoD decides to "flip the switch", this would effect only non-military receivers.
On the brighter side, and in response to this monopoly, the Russian and Chinese military are building their own systems (GLONASS and CNS, respectively), and a civilian network is under development in Europe (Galileo).
HAM systems are limited in bandwidth, and are REALLY easy to track. Think WWII, resistance workers manning radios, and little trucks with antennae triangulating signals.
There are a multitude of reasons why US technology is unable to unseat resistance fighters in AfPak, not the least of which are disparate attitudes to death. On one side is a government forced to write rules of engagement that must be seen to reduce friendly losses to zero, on the other side are real individuals that make decisions on when they should meet their maker.
They already have the power. They are only attempting to make it "officially legal." Regimes usually want to do this as kind of a cover story for global PR and for history. Few autocracies have nerve enough to declare that they have a divine right to do whatever they damn please. That's why the rulers always stage bogus elections, so they have some stuff to point at to substantiate their fake legitimacy. The Top Dogs like to have legalistic precedents for their repression and control to back their claim that they're protecting "the people" from . . . bad people.
They are all authoritarian. Some just like to present as kinder gentler versions of Big Brother.
The French Revolution didn't have the Internet. Let them take it. The net serves as emotional outlet for people who would otherwise be on the streets fighting.
Agreed delia.
When one gets fed up enough, they find the individual, little ways to make their point.
Move your money out of the big 6.
Stop using ATM and credit cards for daily purchases.
Go back to snailmail.
Buy used. Sell your unwanted stuff, via yard sale or donate it all to a community chest.
Buy at your Farmer's Mkt. or grow your own.
Stop smoking, drinking, 420 and tv.
Live your life.
Run, jump, spend time with your kids. Do yoga, tai chi, walk after dinner with your spouse.
LIVE YOUR LIFE through yourself, not the net.
And now that I did this through a net post, I feel like an idiot. :>
These details encourage readers to miss the point. There are an infinite number of them and they lie around like the scenes of grandeur the Wizard of Oz hides behind. They are nothing but props. Oz loves it if we get lost in them. That is what they are for.
The problems is not Lieberman, not the kill switch not the other innumerable details. The problem is the structure of government of the USA; the entire structure of office and economy that the current Media for a long time has assiduously and incorrectly called 'power'.
The current Media simply lies. The core issue is a simple matter. Power has always been for the the people. Anything against the people is not power. Force is for the rich and it is always used against the people. For this reason the rich assiduously use the word power to describe their authority. They need to destroy the word power.
It is our word. They simply lie and any who believe them deserve what they get.
Stop being infatuated by their illusions; following their red herrings. Get rid of the whole dead and rotting pile of them. The USA as a whole is an arch manipulator of the word power reducing it to the equivalent of the ability to kill, to torture and to bribe and intimidate. Just look at the world and see; look at the US Army; look at the mess of Corporations; go on look! They call themselves progress while being entirely retrogressive.
All in the name of Democracy; a red whale some pretend is blue.
US English is meaningless and if the word is the Beginning then meaninglessness is the End. We have been there for some time, ladies and gentlemen. We have deserved what we have got.
Time to shovel the pile away, have another look, and to develop our common dreams.
It's time to throw out the whole lying, thieving lot of them and get a government who will represent all the people and not just the rich. Not much faith in fat, lazy, stupid Americans. You have to be hungry for freedom to fight. Most Americans will tell you they're still free.
Excellent analysis, James.
In fact, when I read the headline of this article, "Will Congress Give Obama the ‘Mubarak Option’? --- I thought, Hell, WE should give Obama the 'Mubarak Option', which is no negotiations --- JUST GO NOW!
Obama must go, Hillary must go. McConnell must go. Cantor must go. Gates must go. The whole pack of entrenched but interchangeable hidden Empire 'tools' must all go NOW.
Best,
Alan
Right on, Alan.
It sure is a long list. We need a very large prison.
Meanwhile the fascist takeover of the USA continues. I'm depressed by the fact that Senators Sanders and Leahy here in Vermont are teaming up with the Military to put a drone operator facility at the national guard section of Burlington airport. It's being sold as a "jobs for Vermonters" thing. It makes me sick to my stomach. So this is Leahy's solution to the vet suicide epidemic he complains about? Keep killing for empire but do it from a distance? Make Vermonters loyal nazis?
These ARE NOT border patrol drones. They are the AF-PAC killer drones.
Counterpunch has an article on this new abomination. Of course General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin are involved along with the University of Vermont.
I wish Vermont would secede. Government money is ruining this place
the old guards of both parties are in perfect harmony with obama over this issue.
the tea party is another matter.
keep building alternative internets, techies!
The USA jealously keeps control of the internet's DNS (Domain Name Service)by virtue of owning the 'A' (authoritative) root server.
I wonder what happens to the 'A' root server when Uncle Sam flips the internet kill switch...
Does the internet go down world wide?
If this were to happen - I am thinking the rest of the world would have to build a parallel internet PDQ.
This could get 'weird' technologically speaking, really fast.
Having internets (plural) would be a huge step backwards.
Sometimes I love to be totally insensitive and crude. I like the idea of this "kill switch".Sort of like what Palin did to people in AZ.I really like the idea of the American people having one of these devices.Then when one of the lame congress critters like these two low lives does something like this we the people hit the switch.
Hmmm
Last time I looked we still had a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech and the press are still there. So the question is NOT "will Congress give" But "when will the people STOP Obama and the Congress" from Breaking the law and violating the Constitution.
Congres DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to give Obama the "power" to take away our Constitutional right to free speech and a free press. Shame on the author for framing his article in such a way as to suggest otherwise. Wake up people just say
NO!
So far, no one has offered any even slightly reasonable scenario that would make the kill switch useful for anything OTHER than attacking the general public. No cyber-attack, no system failure, no external emergency. At least they have a potential reason for turning off GPS.
An Internet kill switch simply has no legitimate use. None. It's only possible purpose is to stop our freedom of speech and freedom of association.
And here I thought "the Mubarak option" was something like "the bum's rush."
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