Obama to be given the right to shut down the internet with 'kill switch'

[SAMSON123]

And some believe that the internet can not be shut down...Ha. Better think again

Obama to be given the right to shut down the internet with 'kill switch'
By PAUL THOMPSON

Last updated at 3:16 PM on 18th June 2010


Barack Obama will be given a 'kill switch' in times of national emergency

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 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.


Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange floor. US senators fear a cyber-attack on the US could paralyse the nation

'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.

[Soul Crusher]

The idiot drones on this site like blacken, benny, and mons probably applaud this. 

[blacken700]

333386 thinks palin could be pres. and he has the nerve to call others  idiot drones now thats priceless

[Mons Venus]

333386 thinks palin could be pres. and he has the nerve to call others  idiot drones now thats priceless

  Watch this! Hahahaa

[Mons Venus]

333386 thinks palin could be pres. and he has the nerve to call others  idiot drones now thats priceless

Drill baby Drill !!

[Mons Venus]

More drill baby drill !!!! 

[brooklynbruiser]

What knobs! The bill was proposed by Leiberman. It would be available to any POTUS in the chair.

[Soul Crusher]

What knobs! The bill was proposed by Leiberman. It would be available to any POTUS in the chair.

No POTUS should be given this power. 

[Skip8282]

No POTUS should be given this power. 

Agreed.  That doesn't appear to be their intent, but the way they've worded it gives the POTUS way too much power.

[Skeletor]

So after countries like Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, China.. the US?

Wth is this their idea of cyber security?. Sad part is that people who have aggressively supported the limitation of personal freedoms (from a "big government" no less) for "security" will probably approve this measure.

[Skip8282]

So after countries like Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, China.. the US?

Wth is this their idea of cyber security?. Sad part is that people who have aggressively supported the limitation of personal freedoms (from a "big government" no less) for "security" will probably approve this measure.

It may very well pass as the amendment as a whole does some good things.  The problem is the ambiguity in the language.  It's actually geared toward the POTUS taking control of "critical infrastructure" in times of an attack for security purposes.  The problem is, what constitutes "critical infrastructure" and the definition is so vague that you could make an argument that Google fits the definition so the POTUS can take over google, etc.

We'll have to see the final form of the bill because after lobbying groups etc., make their case, the language may be changed.

[brooklynbruiser]

No POTUS should be given this power. 

I agree, but the headline is inflammatory and misleading. Off-white journalism indeed!

[SAMSON123]

Ooooooh there's the switch...I wanna press it

[Bindare_Dundat]

Leiberman=dangerous idiot.

[225for70]

I wonder if these dorks shut down getbig because we expose their lies...Could why we've been down a lot lately

[Bindare_Dundat]

I wonder if these dorks shut down getbig because we expose their lies...Could why we've been down a lot lately

lol

No shit. What the fuck is up with this place. It's been fucking up this way for years.

[SAMSON123]

lol

No shit. What the fuck is up with this place. It's been fucking up this way for years.

They know we are here!!!

[Fury]

Getbig's always been shit but MattC and co. from BBPro.com have been cyber attacking this site for a while, hence the more noticeable problems.

[Soul Crusher]

Obama Can Shut Down Internet For 4 Months Under New Emergency Powers
‘Kill switch’ bill approved, moves to Senate floor
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com

Friday, June 25, 2010

President Obama will be handed the power to shut down the Internet for at least four months without Congressional oversight if the Senate votes for the infamous Internet ‘kill switch’ bill, which was approved by a key Senate committee yesterday and now moves to the floor.

The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, which is being pushed hard by Senator Joe Lieberman, would hand absolute power to the federal government to close down networks, and block incoming Internet traffic from certain countries under a declared national emergency.

Despite the Center for Democracy and Technology and 23 other privacy and technology organizations sending letters to Lieberman and other backers of the bill expressing concerns that the legislation could be used to stifle free speech, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed in the bill in advance of a vote on the Senate floor.

In response to widespread criticism of the bill, language was added that would force the government to seek congressional approval to extend emergency measures beyond 120 days. Still, this would hand Obama the authority to shut down the Internet on a whim without Congressional oversight or approval for a period of no less than four months.

The Senators pushing the bill rejected the claim that the bill was a ‘kill switch’ for the Internet, not by denying that Obama would be given the authority to shut down the Internet as part of this legislation, but by arguing that he already had the power to do so.

They argued “That the President already had authority under the Communications Act to “cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communication” when there is a “state or threat of war”, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

Fears that the legislation is aimed at bringing the Internet under the regulatory power of the U.S. government in an offensive against free speech were heightened further on Sunday, when Lieberman revealed that the plan was to mimic China’s policies of policing the web with censorship and coercion.

“Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war and we need to have that here too,” Lieberman told CNN’s Candy Crowley.

While media and public attention is overwhelmingly focused on the BP oil spill, the establishment is quietly preparing the framework that will allow Obama, or indeed any President who follows him, to bring down a technological iron curtain that will give the government a foot in the door on seizing complete control over the Internet.

As we have illustrated, fears surrounding cybersecurity have been hyped to mask the real agenda behind the bill, which is to strangle the runaway growth of alternative and independent media outlets which are exposing government atrocities, cover-ups and cronyism like never before.

Indeed, China uses similar rhetoric about the need to maintain “security” and combating cyber warfare by regulating the web, when in reality their entire program is focused around silencing anyone who criticizes the state.

The real agenda behind government control of the Internet has always been to strangle and suffocate independent media outlets who are now competing with and even displacing establishment press organs, with websites like the Drudge Report now attracting more traffic than many large newspapers combined. As part of this war against independent media, the FTC recently proposing a “Drudge Tax” that would force independent media organizations to pay fees that would be used to fund mainstream newspapers.