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If you’re curious about the details of the so-called “internet killswitch,” check out this piece, where TNL’s own Bruce Henderson laid out the details last year:
Translation: the US government bureaucracy will be spending your tax dollars to figure out private networks, find choke points and places where they can control the flow of communication. Furthermore, companies (such as your ISP) are going to be required, by law, to supply the federal bureaucrats with whatever network, account, usage and history information they deem appropriate. All in the name of cyber safety, you see.
If that were not enough of an outrage, the bill also establishes federal indoctrination and certification for cyber security professionals. It would require companies that the executive branch deemed “critical” to adopt restrictions on who it could hire to work with network security to a limited pool of those who had undergone government training and certification. You might assume from this that the private sector was completely lacking in any certification or training in cyber security. In fact there is a robust and growing business (aka a “free market”) for this type of training that the government would now control and regulate.
The body of this bill continues to reflect a basic lack of understanding of the technology behind the internet. It is not just a series of “tubes” that are connected end to end. There is no good place for the government or any other body to put a spigot that will allow them to “turn it off”. Many companies and organizations are connected through multiple network channels, using independent physical network paths and independent network service providers.
Read the whole thing.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Okay everyone, listen up. Too much is at stake to look the other way this time. If we ignore this ‘bill’ these bureaucrats in Washington will take away the one place left where there is true free of expression. Register at http://protect-the-net.proboards.com and let’s figure out a way to stop this bill. Exercise you right to free speech will you still can.
It is unclear to me exactly what advantage “turning off the internet” has for actually solving a problem. Every major cyber attack (Viruses, Worms, DDoS, DoS) has been fairly well contained by the private sector in fairly short order.
It seems more likely that this is a naked power grab to restrict the free flow of information.
I'll take the risk, thank you.
What we NEED is a CONGRESS “Kill Switch”… every time we see them about to do something STUPID, ZAP!!
Sign the Petition against the Kill-Switch bill and keep the internet free from autocracy! – http://www.petitiononline.com/stopKS/petition.html
Sign the Petition against the Kill-Switch bill and keep the internet free from autocracy! – http://www.petitiononline.com/stopKS/petition.html
The last thing the US government wants or needs is an informed populace. This is thing they have wanted for years. CONTROL OF INFORMATION. It's all BULLSHIT!
The only people who are about this issue are a bunch of retards who have nothing better to do than spend hours of the internet a day looking at porn.
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