“Kill Switch” Would Give Obama Power To Turn Off The Internet

By on June 18, 2010 in News 43

obama1Why doe it seem like it’s always Joe Lieberman who thinks of these great ideas? From the Sydney Morning Herald:

US President Barack Obama would be granted powers to seize control of and even shut down the internet under a new bill that describes the global internet as a US “national asset.”

The proposed legislation, introduced into the US Senate by independent senator Joe Lieberman, who is chairman of the US Homeland Security committee, seeks to grant the President broad emergency powers over the internet in times of national emergency.

Titled “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act,” the bill stipulates any internet firms and providers must “immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed” by a new section of the US Department of Homeland Security, dubbed the “National Centre for Cybersecurity and Communications.”

Lobby group TechAmerica told ZDNet it worried that the bill would give the US “absolute power” over the internet and create “unintended consequences.”

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  • justagirl

    kill-switch indeed…

  • cerebralcaustic

    Considering the mostly negative response to Obama's offshore oil-drilling moratorium from Gulf residents worried about the economic impact, I'd suspect the President would be more careful about overreaching his power…

    …that is, if he hadn't already proved his economic ignorance and Bolshevik tendencies … if you'll forgive the redundancy.

    • E.B. Wolf

      But Obama's just trying to keep us all safe from the Terrorists and other Evil Doers; how can you question the decisions of our commander-in-chief on a matter of vital National Security?

      You need to get behind your President and stop being so anti-American.

      Amazing how stupid that sounds when the puppet in office is on the other team, isn't it?

    • Andrew

      The Bolsheviks were plutocrats? I did not know that.

      • GWF Hegel

        they weren't just plutocrats. they were NAZI plutocrats.

    • http://www.thecarnivalnoir.com Haystack

      Let's keep in mind that this legislation was proposed by Lieberman, not the president.

      And honestly, if you think a president that has handed billions of taxpayer dollars to banks and auto firms has Bolshevik tendencies, you are betraying your own economic ignorance.

  • emperorreagan

    Joseph Lieberman is probably the biggest piece of shit in the Senate. I would like to kick every single CT voter who voted for him in the face. I don't like politicians in general, but he just takes it to a completely higher level.

    • Fasmc

      He is going to run for reelection .. Or he would of never said it..

      • Fastmc

        Not going to run ..excuse me..

  • Cjk699

    It All adds up to eventually taking as many of our rights, censuring and controlling us as much as possible… If people dont wake up it will be too late soon… Sad Sad World we live in

    • Pete

      Don't be silly.. This current bunch of leaders are not and will not be the first to get their heads chopped off.. Don't be so pesimistic.

  • jungman

    I love our President, and I love our Government. Regarding our country and it's citizenry? well… why should I care about them?

  • R H O

    There is every chance killing the internet would free up time for ” would be” types to get out and do it.

  • Chuck

    this is it boys… kiss this excellent ride goodbye.

    I really enjoyed thinking with all of you.

  • http://www.thecarnivalnoir.com Haystack

    I can't understand the thinking behind this, unless Lieberman is worried that the net is going to become sentient and try to kill us. The original purpose behind the Internet was to preserve the flow of communications in the event of an emergency–now that so many systems are wholly dependent on it, shutting it down would probably create an emergency far more serious than any cyber attack. I think the unintended effect of this bill is to signal to other countries that the core systems of the Internet can no longer be entrusted to the United States alone.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/NWBGS6KE4GQSH3UBJU5DC4QRJY J

      With all respect to you Haystack, you're not considering who most gets affected, and probably adversely, by the internet the way it is now. The people at the top of the food chain can't like a system like this where anyone with access can find information about almost anything….even very esoteric and secret things. Sure there's a lot of garbage to sift through but the information is out there and it can be information that exposes things that happen at the top of the food chain that they don't really want available to the masses to see. They want to have a way to control and moderate the web to control the flow of information. It's as simple as that.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/NWBGS6KE4GQSH3UBJU5DC4QRJY J

    Is there ANYTHING Joe Lieberman is for that was any good? My god, I remember when this jack hole seemed kinda like a statesman back when he was Gore's running mate. Since then he's become a royal douche. This might be the first real attack on the free internet. It can only grow into a monster of legal and legislative wranglings over what can and can't happen on the web. What a fucking bummer. I hope they toss this one out on it's ear.

  • malatesting123

    Joe Lieberman is a perfect example of why no matter what party you belong to, you can still be a Fascist. The fear that the wealthy and powerful have of what the people can, in theory, accomplish remains my only hope.
    Now watch the bastards line up to profess how there is no alternative to shit bills like this one.

  • chinagreenelvis

    Would someone please explain to me why the header of this Disinfo article clearly states the name “Obama” when such a legislation would give the same power to any residing United States president?

    Thank you for trying to shove connotation down our throats. Your efforts have been noted.

    • Smokey99

      This is just copy and pasted from other sources… no thought went into the title from disinfo?!?

      • chinagreenelvis

        Ah, whoops. It seems that the Sydney Morning Herald is to blame for the cocknockery. Still, Disinfo repeated the offense since their headline is merely a paraphrasing and not the same.

        • Neo2012

          What is your race?

          • Johnny Smacks Truth

            I guarantee the majority of the Pro-Obama people on here are BLACK. It proves ignorance! Support someone because of their skin color and be oblivious to anything else. IDIOTS!

          • Conniedobbs

            LOL black people on disinfo. THAT's funny.

          • Fastmc

            Bet your white and voted McCain…lol

    • Neo2012

      Because he is the current President…what part of this do you not get? You must be another bleeding heart for Obama…(who can do no wrong)…wake up!

      • Fastmc

        Think your missing Glen Beck ,,go buy some gold .. beck needs another million.

  • John

    What, the, fuck? This is fucking retarded… i hope he dies in a fire.

  • tonyviner

    Lieberman always has the best ideas…

  • 5by5

    I'm sorry, but after everything Lieberman's done, why the frack does that douche still have his committee chairmanship with which to launch damn fool ideas like this?

    Liebermush never got the memo from Ben Franklin about people who give up their freedom for a moment of safety deserving neither freedom, nor safety. What a corporatist weenie.

    And for me at least, it's not enough to say “See, there are dorks in both parties.” I want jerks like this bounced OUT of my party. He's not a Democrat anyways, so he shouldn't get to call himself one.

    But the Democratic Party has a dual douche problem — Liebermush needs to be bounced, but our party “leadership” is Harry Reid, who's a weenie in his own right. And instead of the DNC putting up someone with gonads to run against him in the primaries, they back him, and now the people in his state have a “choice” between mousey Harry, and that blonde wackjob Stepford wife/ tv hairdo in the (all douche) Republican Party who thinks we ought to barter chickens for health care. This is not how I define a “choice”.

  • Cjett

    This is misinfo, but very true at the same time. The push for digital broadcasting has been backed,supported and started by the government. How many of you still receive analog internet service, or non-digital cellphones? There is constant new legislation to remove all analog broadcasting, including local non-digital radio,tv and lastly – citizens band radio. The government, local,county,state, or federal can kill all digital signal to a township, a region of the country, or a single house, also digital signals are very easy to trace and the precise GPS location of your cell phone is known right now, this very second.The world's governments already controls all digital signals. If you operate a HAMM radio without proper registration, you are breaking the law. It is over, your freedom has already been snatched out from under you, and you probably unknowingly voted for it. It's not a matter of partison politics, it is DONE.

  • Neo2012

    Joseph Lieberman is nothing but a Nazi!

  • Elijah

    the internet is the greatest tool mankind has achieved for freedom of speech. anyone who wants to shut down the internet also is shutting down freedom of speech. i think this bill is constitutionally illegal, as it shuts down our right to free speech. the only reason to shut down the internet would be to shut down communication, and the only reason to shut down communication is because there is something to hide. if they are really concerned about “cyber warfare” than the answer is very simple. don't stick stuff on the intenet that is sensitive information. i say no to giving ANYONE the ability to shut down the internet. nobody has the right to censor other people.

  • Tuna Ghost

    Funny, I've been laboring under the impression that “turning off” the internet was basically not possible

  • Tangel476

    It is a bad idea. This will cut off online gamers from their daily fixes. In return, do the powers to be really want to wake up the sleeping masses?

  • Colorado

    Since when should anyone be surprised that the party-in-power is grabbing for more? This is Lieberman's big chance to buy back good favor with the current party-in-power and it's their way of pimping him. He is not so different from the rest of them; they are all prostitutes selling to the highest bidder. There is not one iota of ethics in the bunch! …and yes, the article names Obama, who I'm sure will take the free ride. Whoever is sworn in next will simply follow in his footsteps. Where is there a politician who loves America more than power?

  • Neo2012

    Did any of you hear the racist pig Oprah last week defending Obama on the gulf disaster?

  • Gloria Arroyo

    letche peste ni si obama dili nko mka online everything sa friends, chatmate, enemy, family, sexmate, etc.

  • Conniedobbs

    LOL black people on disinfo. THAT’s funny.

  • Fastmc

    Bet your white and voted McCain…lol

  • Fastmc

    Think your missing Glen Beck ,,go buy some gold .. beck needs another million.

  • Fasmc

    He is going to run for reelection .. Or he would of never said it..

  • Fastmc

    Not going to run ..excuse me..