Bill Allows Obama Power to Shut Down Internet
The President of the United States is said by some to be the most powerful man in the world -- but should he have control of the spread of information.
A legislation proposed on April 1 is no joke. The proposed bill would grant President Obama the authority to shut down public and private networks -- including the restriction of internet traffic -- as part of a cybersecurity emergency plan.
The bill was introduced by West Virginia Democratic Sen. John Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine. The aim of the bill is to unite both public and private network operators to develop regulations for what to do in case of a cyber attack.
For obvious reasons, many are concerned about what such power could mean if the wrong actions were taken. Leslie Harris, president and CEO at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), said in a NetworkWorld story, “This is pretty sweeping legislation. Seems the President could turn off the Internet completely or tell someone like Verizon to limit or block certain traffic. There is a lot to worry about in this bill.”
While the public sector may be used to more government regulation and involvement, such control will undoubtedly bother corporations. CDT’s Harris added that regulatory rules could force companies to all conform to a similar system, which could hamper security and innovation. For example, if a critical security flaw was found in a mandated system, then the entire network could be susceptible to such a flaw.
Corporations, particularly internet-centric companies, are keeping close watch on how this will pan out.
“We are currently studying this legislation,” said Dan Martin, a spokesman for Google. “Security has been a priority at Google from the beginning of the company – we recognize that secure products are instrumental in maintaining the trust our users place in us.”
The politicians behind the bill do clarify that this is just the first proposal and that there is still room for much revision and evolution.
“This legislation is the beginning of the process - the objective of this cybersecurity bill is to start the debate and chairman Rockefeller welcomes comments from all parties, he is sitting down with stakeholders already and he welcomes input from all those supportive of the legislation and those with concerns,” said Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation.
Check out the bill here (PDF), hosted by NetworkWorld.
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The following is my opinion.
It seems the fears regarding these power-mad socialists and their globalist allies are not unfounded. I see Rockefeller is mentioned, too.
I think people willingly gave up their seventy, their security and their liberty the day they elected this puppet. You're now seeing the consequences. Let's not forget how influential the corporate, global media was in getting Obama elected.
Such bills allow the internet - up until now a public system - to be handed over in its entirety to private entities to do with as they wish. Under the pretext of things like national security, mere disagreement with their policies can be classified as a matter of emergency and dealt with as such. The masses won't know because the free media won't exist any more.
I think this not about security but absolute power, greed and control. Nothing more. I do not want private entities dictating what a free society can and cannot say and if we want to see the dangers of going down that route then history provides us with many examples.
god bless america
))) I fully agree with Wild9. It's a pitty though as pretty much all the crap from there eventually gets done here...
How come when i first read that i thought of Bill Gates
I'll second wild9's opinion; this is merely part of the Globalish agenda to slow the progress of access to information. Remember people, NONE of these reviews, opinions nor anything else that a corrupt govt or corporation would want to surface, would if they could actively prevent it... The 2nd amendment can't save you if your shouting the good truth all by yourself or to a few friends that will have sense enough to listen.
Note the key phrasing "national security," which since the Bush administration (Sr and Jr) has been used as a blanket of protectionism to thwart the constitution, bill of rights and any other civil-liberties that we used to have ownership of. Soon as anything that might be regarded under the blanket of "national security," as potentially "dangerous," it's immediately attacked and demonized as worth giving up in order to "protect" us... GIving up liberties in the name of false-flag-terrorism threats is ludicrous!
W/o the internet as we currently know it = just think of HOW many scandals of the past and present, would go unheard, unreported upon by the corrupted national/corporately controlled media conglomerate.
Tin fin alert? Quakery? Conspiracy theory? Not at all, if you do a little research about this so-called "wonderful" government we have, you'll see all kinds of de-classified experiments upon our own citizens, w/o any notice to the public as such. Keep drinking the Koolaid folks. One day you'll find your connection dropped with out notice and a knock on your door with inquiring agents waiting.
Inform yourselves please. If you think all this "conspiracy" talk is just a hoax, GOOGLE some of the reports yourselves. Cross check as much info as you currently hold bias about, THEN make an educated decision about what rights you're willing to lose in the name of "freedom." Ask yourselves... Okay so we're supposedly "safe" since the last administration right? WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO RELINQUISH said patriot act powers, now that they aren't needed??? Answer = THEY HAVEN'T and don't intend to!
Alex Jones: http://www.infowars.com/listen.html
*bows head in disgust*