Say No To a Government Internet "Kill Switch"

GMGruman writes "In the name of national security, the feds are considering a law that would let the government turn off the Internet — or at least order broadband providers and ISPs to disable access. InfoWorld blogger Bill Snyder explains why this is a bad idea. Does the US really want to be like China or Iran?"

Comments

Isn't it obvious

[guruevi]

Does the U.S. really want to be like China or Iran

"Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war and we need to have that here too," Lieberman

Re:Does the U.S. really want to be like China or I

[im_thatoneguy]

If by most you mean US treasury securities and if by most you mean I believe about 11% then yes.

Re:Does the U.S. really want to be like China or I

[Golddess]

Y'see, there's these things called "laws" that dictate what can and cannot be done. If done right, things could play out something like this...

Government: "Hey ISP, stop discriminating against traffic you don't have a vested interest in."
ISP: "Fuck you, Government, I'll do what I want!"
Government: "Ok, you're going to jail for violating the law."
ISP: "Wait, what?"

But not like this...

Government: "Hey ISP, turn off all incoming and outgoing connections."
ISP: "Fuck you, Government, you may be able to tell me to treat all data equally, but there's nothing stating you have the power to tell me to do that!"
Government: "..."

Re:Does the U.S. really want to be like China or I

[ScrumHalf]

First off, Internet Killswitch != Net Neutrality. Furthermore, Liberman is against Net Neutrality, and he's the one that proposed this nonsense. Get your facts straight.