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Skriven 2010-06-17 20:36:00 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
Ärende: InterNet Terrorist!
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New Bill Gives Obama "Kill Switch" To Shut Down The Internet


Paul Joseph Watson


Wednesday, June 16, 2010


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."


The bill has the vehement support of Senator Jay Rockefeller, who last year
asked during a congressional hearing, "Would it had been better if we'd have
never invented the Internet?"� while fearmongering about cyber-terrorists
preparing attacks.


The largest Internet-based corporations are seemingly happy with the bill,
primarily because it contains language that will give them immunity from civil
lawsuits and also reimburse them for any costs incurred if the Internet is
shut down for a period of time.


If there's an incident related to a cyber vulnerability� after the President
has declared an emergency and the affected company has followed federal
standards, plaintiffs' lawyers cannot collect damages for economic harm. And
if the harm is caused by an emergency order from the Feds, not only does the
possibility of damages virtually disappear, but the US Treasury will even pick
up the private company's tab,"� writes McCullagh.


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.


Similar legislation aimed at imposing Chinese-style censorship of the Internet
and giving the state the power to shut down networks has already been passed
globally, including in the UK, New Zealand and Australia.


We have extensively covered efforts to scrap the internet as we know it and
move toward a greatly restricted "internet" system. Handing government the
power to control the Internet would only be the first step towards this
system, whereby individual ID's and government permission would be required
simply to operate a website.


The Lieberman bill needs to be met with fierce opposition at every level and
from across the political spectrum. Regulation of the Internet would not only
represent a massive assault on free speech, it would also create new
roadblocks for e-commerce and as a consequence further devastate the economy.



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