Scary: Bill Grants President Control of Internet

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ravenware

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[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]No what was in the bill was the power to shut off the networks of financial and government networks. You are just a lying. You clearly didn't read the bill. Fail.[/citation]
no it doesn't say anything about financial networks under the section where describes the authority to shut down internet traffic. That is an assumption. The private networks that the gov would like to control access to in the case of a cyber attack needs to be succinctly defined.

(B) State, local, and nongovernmental information systems and networks in the United States designated by the President as critical infrastructure information systems and networks.

Read the bill.
 

spentshells

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[citation][nom]Shadow703793[/nom]F!@# them. I wonder what the 1337 hackers/crackers will do about this; I'm sure most of them are pissed off. At any rate, WHAT company are considered "critical"? Northrop, NASA, DoD, Mocrosoft, Google????This "CyperSecurity" is just a mess.[/citation]
wrong...wrong wrong
 
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Most important words in this article "according to Fox News". Enough said
 

rdawise

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[citation][nom]clayshateme[/nom]Yeah, it's not scary that the president can shut down anything he likes, and claim it was because of a threat. Yeah, all the libs were screaming about how they lost so much freedom due to the Patriot Act, yet they can't tell you a single one, not one, nada, zip, zilch of what freedoms they lost.But it's okey-dokey if Dems pass a bill to grant Obama the power to do this. Hmmm, not like he'd apoint a diversity officer to the FCC, who would create a tax that would require, at his political discretion, 100% of any company , corporation, or entities budget be sent to NPR or local broadcasters. Because any company can of course to double it's expenses, and stay in business. Nooooo sirreee bob, Obama wouldn't ever do that. Never. Never ever. And he certainly wouldn't be a far-left Obama contributor. Nope. No way. And of course Obama could be trusted with the power of this bill NOT to shut down blogs, news agencies, certain states, et al. Of course he could. Cause he always tells the truth. Always. Every time. Except when he speaks...and writes...and remembers, then speaks that he forgot...and speaks again. Yeah, you can trust Stranger (to truth) and Doped. He's almost not H*tler yet.[/citation]

First, this was not made by Obama. It was championed by both a REPUBLICAN and a DEMOCRAT. It was the democrat who listened to the outcry and tried to reword it (for better or worse). Please get your fact straight before putting on the tinfoil hat.

If I am not mistaken ANY PRESIDENT (Obama and thereafter) essentailly already kind of already has the power to flip a "kill switch" on the 'net. Look up Emergency Powers of the president. This is not an Obama thing. For so many people who readily point out grammar and spelling errors, you all sure don't check many facts. Maybe the author should have spelled something wrong....
 

Supertrek32

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Warning! We have recently discovered that a terrorist organization of unknown origins has released a highly damaging virus on to the internet. The virus is attached to a terrorist propaganda video depicting a terrorist disguised as a government official beating a young lady to death. For your safety, we will be shutting down the internet until all copies of this file have been quarantined. Internet access will be restored at approximately 3:00 PM. If you come across the afforementioned video after access has been restored, we advise you to disregard it and contact the authorities.
 

r0x0r

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Why is it whenever I see a story associated with gaining control and removing freedoms, I also see the name Rockefeller?... (not specifically Jay)
 

airborne11b

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I think this is a great bill. The president would NEVER shut down the internet unless it was an absolute emergency. Most Stock Market trading takes place online, so shutting it down would crush wallstreet pretty quick. Not to mention other economic, medical, and education factors. The president is only being granted this power so that if our country comes under a mass-cyber-terrorist attack then he can shut down the internet to prevent massive damage long enough for counter-terrorist units to come up with a solution. I don't understand why everyone freaks out over stuff like this. The government has control of many things in our day to day lives a lot more serious then this, yet no one cares. Calm down people, no one is going to cut you off from your stupid my-space addiction.
 

Annisman

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This is just one more case of the government trying to take our liberty away from us, the Liberals will be defeated we outnumber you 2:1 and now we are PISSED.
 

rooseveltdon

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The president has enough influence and power to cause a nuclear war,and to be honest the governement has quite a lot of control of the internet already if they want access to your information technically they do have the people and power to do it people go crazy over these bills as if the governemt isn't doing all this already.
 

anamaniac

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[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]Sad when right wingers that are trying to hide their racism are posting on a Tom's site. How do I know you are right winger? You can't think for yourself or look up something called "facts." I know using your brain is hard, but you should try it.[/citation]

I'm pro-socialist myself, and my racism is in check.
I don't trust Obama.

(But wait, what Canadian does at this point?)
 
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First, to be pretty straighforward about this bill, it's a terrible idea. The internet is the last frontier of true freedom, where even in countries completely ruled by a dictatorship, the internet still exists, especially in the modern age of wireless everything. No one person, government or not, deserves the right to be able to turn it off for whatever reason, disaster or not. As Ben Franklin once said, "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither."

Second, this is not a left-wing or a right-wing problem. The US federal government has been trying for years to find a way to control or tax the internet. Their job as the government is to exert control, i.e., to "govern" the people. It's the responsibility of the people to make sure the government never gets big enough to do that. Only in this balance can we all truly find harmony, regardless of party affiliation. We should stand up and make sure our voices are heard on this: Not my internet.

Finally, the calls of racism need to stop. I did not vote for Obama, because I am one of the few people that kept an open mind and researched the facts about his history and his beliefs for myself. I'm not saying that people that voted for him had the wool pulled over their eyes, not as a generalization... but most of them can't tell a voting box from a hole in their head.

The simple fact is this: We can not trust the government to do anything for the people unless we're watching over their shoulder. As soon as we give them an inch, they will take a mile, and history will be doomed to repeat itself.
 

viometrix

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the us is slowly becoming like all the tyrants and dictators we work so hard to get rid of, now i know why we get rid of them, so we are the only ones.
 
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