The introduction of a new Senate bill, S.3480, dubbed the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010,” is sparking concerns about a massive power grab over the Internet under the guise of “national security.”
The bill, proposed by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I – CT) claims the entire Internet, the whole global computer network and everything on it, as a “national asset” of the United States, and seeks to give President Obama the power to seize control over broad swaths of it with no oversight during a “National Cyber Emergency,” which would itself be something the president would be able to declare at any time.
But easily the most controversial aspect of the nearly 200 page bill is what is being called a “kill switch,” granting the president the power to shut down the entire Internet across the planet for national security reasons. Sen. Collins (R – ME), a supporter of the bill, claimed it was necessary to prevent a “cyber 9/11.”
The bill amounts to a remarkable claim of presidential power, claiming a large portion of the global economy as a specific asset of the United States and further claiming the right to nationalize or destroy it in whole or part on a whim. The news may be disquieting enough for Americans faced with this sort of power grab from their own government, but for foreigners the idea that another nation can commandeer the Internet, cut them off from it, or render it unusable is totally shocking, and not surprisingly, a source of no small consternation.
When reading through the bill, one can’t notice how frankly it claims such enormous powers, or imagine how shocked the entire planet would be if Sen. Lieberman proposed the same measures without adding the prefix “cyber” to every few words. Couching it as a technical matter, with the usual technical ignorance of a Congressman thrown in for good measure, is a way to hide exactly how sweeping the new powers would truly be.
In fact Sen. Lieberman insisted that the very fact that the internet is now “a necessity of modern life” was the justification behind his bill. We can’t, it seems, have billions of people worldwide living a modern life without the president’s imprimatur.
What a stupid nut,these people in Washington are getting more unstable ever day.
"National security" being the cover-up of war crimes by the United States.
Is there anyone in the Senate who is a bigger a-hole than Joe Lieberman? I can't think of anyone and I can probably name 20 of the most prominent senators.
I know who's a bigger a-hole than Lieberman: the people of Vermont, for repeatedly voting for Bush's favorite little war pig. Screw them.
He's from that unstable place Connecticut, please. Here in Vermont, we have the Socialist Bernie Sanders – and we're proud of it.
Hi Nike,
I live in Vermont and leiberman is not our A-Hole senator. It's the people of Connecticut that
love that creep. But we do have two a-holes Leahy and Sanders. Let's be real all of them are
depraved idiots. We must kick them all out!
YES AND THOSE ARE PEOPPLE WHO VOTE OVER AND OVER FOR SAME
KONGRESSMAN AND KSENATOR UNTIL THIS PEOPLE ACTUALY DIE IN OFFICE
VOTE FOR TERM LIMIT ,VOTE FOR ONE TERM ONLY. GET THESE TRATORS OUT
OF OFFICE EVEN IF THEY ARE DOING GOOD JOB GET THEM OUT BEFORE THEY
BECOME WHORES OF LOBBIEST PROTECT OUR BELOVED NATION PLEASE.
more control of what you see by a jewish senator..lieberman is an israeli first..and think about it..kill switch for what and when..when israel kills palestinians..or when israel boards a civilian ship and kills people..this is for israel..BELIEVE ME…look at who is always first to defend israel and give israel anything they want..its always lieberman and his other jewish boys and girls ..in our house and senate..look at his record
Yes Sean .. you can't forget Shumer,Cantor ,Weiner,Boxer,etc…. these are the TERRORIST !!!!.. I don't Fear PEOPLE who want to be free in their own Country"s… if we really have a Democarcy…why don't we get true media ?.. truth in American Media is about 10 %… and I'm being generous !!!.. Come get me for exercising my 1st Amenment Right and see what you get !!.. To protect against Foriegn and or Domestic Enemies !!!!.. Time to Enact "OPERATION CLEAN SWEEP"….. how Pathedic we have become.. my Ancestors are rolling in their Graves … David Bushnell I know for sure… FREEDOM FROM FACISM !!
This has got nothing to do with Israel, or the Jews!!!, You are about as biased and prejudiced as they come. If you look at Obama's real history and current stance you will find that he is against Israel, because he is a muslim !!!. What Lieberman is truly guilty of is being an active traitor to the freedoms and interests of the majority of the American people, as well as many others such as Pelosi, Reid, and Obama. The only thing the Israeli's have ever truly wanted was peace, and to be left alone!!. They have every right to defend themselves and should be helped as much as possible by their allies, just look at all in the muslim world that will only settle for the complete ethnic annihilation of Israel, and all other infidels, which consist of any people not willing to convert to Islam.
this is a load of crap!! no one man should have that much power especially obama!!!!
The problem is not Obama here- it is Lieberman. Obama is not proposing this and I believe this would be equally dangerous in any President's (or single person's) hands.
On a separate note, a HUGE problem with this initiative it that the very "kill switch" itself would be a target of terrorists. Terrorist hackers would most certainly target that kill switch to cripple the entire world at any given time. The mere idea is gigantic pandora's box…
What will happen if they pass this bill? Is it really possible for one location to disable the entire global network, or have these people finally become complete nut jobs howling at the moon?
how can the United States think they're the "biggest dog on the porch" and try to get away with something like this???? Have we finally seen the first glimpse of the Antichrist????
This is beyond ridiculous. Please tell me this is either fake, or not really getting much consideration. PLEASE.
well fuck me in the nose this is ridiculous.
I shall happily fuck you in the nose as long as this is batshit fake and not a real attempt at creating a law.
The idea that this could even happen in a country with such a thing as the first amendment is fucking terrifying.
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 lets figure out a way to stop this bill. Exercise you right to free speech will you still can.
Thank you for that link.
If Senator Lieberman has any interest in anything, it must have something to do with Israel’s interest, because this ia all that motivates this man. I suppose that the Zionists are infuriated that they have invested a lot of time and money into cornering the MSM and then this free internet keeps exposing their crap.
But, luckily, Lieberman and ilk are technically ignorant enough to think that they can push the genie back into the bottle
Blame the citizens of the USA. From the 'Patriot Act' to illegal wiretapping, the MAJORITY of Americans cheered as Bush made one move after another toward creating a police state. Arrest American citizens and hold them for years without trial? No problem. Run torture chambers and whitewash the war crimes? No problem. Kangaroo courts? No problem.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the US government will start using drone aircraft to spy on Americans. Today, it's the internet. What did they expect?
God Bless America.
Nike your concerns are mine as well… I don't see any difference in a Police state than a Facist one ..lieberman is a spineless thug… I live in CT .this filth didn't get elected .. tons of illegal $$$$ came in to keep this lunatic in office… when he debated Ned Lamont in New London CT… he snuck in the backdoor…in the service you take an Oath to Protect. This Country against Foriegn and or Domestic Enemies !!! There are a lot of domestic enemies roaming around stealing from Good hard working people/sending them off to fight unjust wars ..the list is huge .. Jeffersons words are ringing out Loud !!!..
does somebody think this kill switch already exist? after all internet is born under military protocols
arg,life is sweet heh?
Problem with the Internet is that people can find out what's really happening in the mid-east. This guy is way too transparent in his motives.
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both
Benjamin Franklin
Don't worry, Al Gore will invent a new version.
I'm not sure exactly how feasible a 'kill switch' would be considering how de-dentralized the net is. You'd have to pretty much have all the ISPs and the companies that maintain the actual hardware/infrastructure involved. And even then there would be mistakes made, holes created, etc… Much as they might like to control the internet I'm not sure that they could. This might just be another imperial overreach and signs that our rulers are once again out of touch with reality.
Let the loons keep on dreaming and let them fall flat on their ugly Machiavellian faces.
This Zio-Flunky should be removed from Office for even putting forth a bill like this which curtails free speech – and he should be executed in front of his family and other Congressional traitors as a stern warning to the US/Israeli dual citizens.
Sadly, US Congress nowadays seems to be full of traitors who are there just to serve Israel not the American People.
And this power would belong not only to Obama but to any future President.
The fact that it's Joe Lieberman who proposes this legislation shows how confident Israel is that it controls Obama and will control any future president of the United States.
Dang…now only the Chinese will know the truth!….how bizzare and scary.
Has anything remotely good ever come out of Joe Liberman?
No.
I'll second that.
The blow to interstate (not to mention international) commerce is obscene and eminently actionable for redress. This is economic terrorism writ large and in the event of another false flag in these US it is akin to holding a gun to the head of the world. As for mushmouth Liberman, yet another example of what is wrong with this oligarchy. One little thing: Obama is proof enough that voting does not work as we will always receive the same old merrily rolling juggernaut of shear unadulterated fascist crap no matter who is elected. Whoever comes after Lieberman (Hadassah his second wife I bet) will be equally bad if not worse. PS: WHO IS TO BELIEVE THEY CAN ACTUALLY PULL IT OFF? They want us to think them gods.
What the heck? I can not believe now they are going to try and stop all the freedom of speech we have left. This is not the land of the free anymore….we are now under the claw of a nazi regime. Freedom is gone. The way of life our former Father's of this Country fought for nolonger stands to be true……. For once the whole world needs to stand up and listen to what the almighty is once again taking away. They already killed the Gulf of Mexico, workers and families. We are all left with nothing and no way to gain our way of life back…If they would only realize how can we pay taxes without jobs and live without money to survive….God bless them…for maybe one day they will see only God is Almighty…Give back God and see what happens!!!!!
The only service he won't seem to perform for Israel is to go and live there.
i heard from an Us friend once,that in democracy people are selected ,not elected ,was he wrong to say dat this cabal is an illusion?
Believe it or not, they're actually trying to blame this on the president instead of Lieberman.
Wow! I suppose that any WikiLeaks video release showing the truth could be labeled cyber terrorism by these kooks.
would shutting down the entire internet(if thats possible) would that not be a declaration of war on all countries that are highly dependent on it,
disrupting internal communication and what not?
Our oligarchs are beginning to fear the implications of a free Internet. They have discovered that it permits their subjects to sidestep the ersatz "free press" and find out nasty truths about their masters. What's worse, it facilitates communication and political organization among disaffected members of this newly informed peasantry. Our rulers certainly don't want any of this. What they *do* want is to effectively control the flow of information—or at least the context in which we receive it; and such legislation is the first step toward effecting this tyrannous end.
And note how they justify this audacious power grab: because the Internet is now a "necessity" of daily life it must come under the purview of the state. In other words, all things public and private, broadly construed as "necessary" to commerce, security and that nebulous thing, the "general welfare," are now subject to regulation by an ever-growing, ever-hungry Leviathan. If the people of United States still possessed a sterling ounce of the Spirit of '76, were civil society and public discourse not hopelessly moribund, such statist "justifications" would not be tolerated, let alone the tyrannous bill they allegedly justify.
Our oligarchs are beginning to fear the implications of a free Internet. They have discovered that it permits their subjects to sidestep the controlled "free press" and find out nasty truths about their masters. What's worse, it facilitates communication and political organization among disaffected members of this newly informed peasantry. Our rulers certainly don't want this. What they *do* want is to effectively control the flow of information—or at least the context in which we receive it; and such legislation is the first step toward effecting this tyrannous end.
And note how they justify this audacious power grab: because the Internet is now a "necessity" of daily life it must come under the purview of the state. In other words, *all* things public and private, broadly construed as "necessary" to commerce, security and that nebulous thing, the "general welfare," are now subject to regulation by an ever-growing, ever-hungry Leviathan. If the people of United States still possessed a sterling ounce of the Spirit of '76, were civil society and public discourse not hopelessly moribund, such statist "justifications" would not be tolerated, let alone the tyrannous bill they allegedly justify.
Why not? Load the internet down with chains and move toward the complete prohibition of tobacco.
That will nicely enough end any possibility of a virtual revolution, just as banning Playboy and Hustler in the PX's prevented any possibility of the sexual perversions seen at Abu Gharaib.
It is mind boggling how far abusively repressed Americans are behind the times–Marcuse was writing forty years ago and is still an exotic to most of the US.
In fact, just as Lenin had the present Finance Capitalism down cold, Marcuse's analysis of surplus repression and aggression is close to a prophecy of events like Abu Gharaib.
Wouldn't you think the Zionists would have got one of their many stooges in Congress to propose the bill instead of leaving all the repressive legislation to the preeminent Senator from Tel Aviv? Of course, they can count on the Chomskyist left and the conspiratorial right to give this the usual "Don't mention the Israel Lobby" spin.
I always something like this would happen. Like the internet implode or something. Turns out it would just be a switch pushed by the devil.
The internet is passé.
That does not mean it will disappear. It means simply that it has been increasingly coopted, both by the "System" and its bought and paid for agents.
That means in turn that the revolution will not be virtual.
Incidentally, the essence of Finance Capitalism is debt credit.
Does anyone else see the irony in a credit card with a dove on it?
Guess not.
Lieberman has no loyalty to the US! His loyalties are to Israel and the proof is how he helped AIPAC steal TOP SECRET Intel and send or sell it to Israel. I mean who is voting for this rat! He's not even loyal to the Dems or Repubs! He'll run as a Nazi Party as long as he make moves for his boss the Zionist Movement and the Rothschild Banksters!
Bloomberg was Lieberman's mainstay when he became an independent.
Well, I didn't mean to post this darned thing thrice. The post was intercepted by auto-moderation—and, when that happens, the post usually disappears down some virtual hole. I attempted to post a couple more times and . . . Sorry for inadvertently repeating myself.
The Internet doesn't belong to America, most of the advancements in internet technology came from the rest of the world! Looks like we'll be building a world wide INTRAWEB that America has no power over, Built by everyone for everyone! Mr.Obama, Your making a very big mistake if you think you can switch off the internet, private networks have the word "PRIVATE" in them because that's what they are! if you switch off private networks America will be sued into Oblivion by every country on earth making everyone there…lol…My slaves, forever! xoxo Jews complete control America & Americans are waking up homeless & broke, Sounds exactly like the begining of holocaust like what happened in Germany! They are engineering a disaster!
Your comment must be approved by the site admins before it will appear publicly.
Nice to see our right to free speech is being cheerfully moderated So we can't flame each other and debate and argue about the topic and come up with some really creative solutions! Censorship & Moderation thwarts all possiblity of a favourable outcome for everyone by dissallowing the passionate interactions of some of the cleverest people on earth, and for that I am truely sorry.
Moderator note: be honest with yourself and approve my comments just the two…Because for no other reason than the fact what I've written is unfortunately, brutally truthful.
What? These guys never heard of a firewall?!?!?! If they have "sensitive information" they need to protect, how about NOT PUTTING IT ON THE INTERNET IN FIRST PLACE?!?!?!
Wake up people!!!!, This administration has been talking about this for months, and has been trying to stifle free speech since the big O-shitter got into office!!!. To hold Israel responsible for this is ludicrous!!!. You all are aware of the vote tomorrow concerning our 1st ammendment rights, right? Well this ties right into the same agenda. November isn't coming fast enough for me!!!.
what? my post's have been censored? wtf is that? so much for free speech !!!!, my guess is that the moderator doesn't like Israel, nor the 1st Amendment !!!
the "auto-moderator" is having major problems and flagging a lot of articles for "non-registered" users for god-only-knows-why. I've been trying to figure out how to fix it but in the meantime I'm just going through every few hours and manually overriding the "Flagged" articles. Sorry about the delay.
Thanks for allowing one of my posts, although I think the first one was pretty important as well. I question why so many are so quick to blame this crap on Israel and the Jewish people. First and foremost, Lieberman's a totally liberal dumbass that couldn't spell his own name without help, I should know because I lived in Ct. He is marching in lockstep with the Obama left, who, by the way, has no interest in helping Israel at all, because he is a muslim, not a christian, and has already swore his allegiance to Islam. So I ask those who are blaming Israel to really stop to think about this whole mess before assessing blame. By the way, I am a christian of German-Irish lineage.
Jesus Christ, I think we know what we need a kill switch for, and it's not the freaking internet, either.
Get ready, The United States of America as we know it ,is passing right before our eyes, and we are all just watching it go…….