Re: Renewed push in US for internet kill switch.

[Guest guest]

Can I point out that clearly the lawmakers haven't a clue about

technology?

 

Even with

what is happening in Egypt, certain Senators are

again trying to push though an internet kill switch

to put in Obama's hands. They say there are

safeguards, such as consulting with private industry

before turning anything off. Yeah, I feel so safe

now. Comcast, who dropped opposition to Net

Neutrality in order to profit from a merger that was

being held up (isn't that blackmail?) and then

accepted government mandates for new TV networks and

programming in order to gobble up another company.

They're really going to say "no" when the government

says to turn off the net.

 

Enjoy the internet while you

can. Dictators and their cronies hate free access to

information and communication. That'll be gone soon.

Funny though how the media isn't saying much about

this but if it were Bush, the media would be

screaming bloody murder 24/7. Perhaps certain media

organizations already have their exemption waivers

lined up so they can stay online since they are such

good little lapdogs.

 

 

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/as-egypt-goes-offline-us-gets-internet-kill-switch-bill-ready-20110131-1aah3.html

As

Egypt goes offline US gets internet 'kill switch'

bill ready

Ben Grubb and Asher Moses

January 31, 2011 - 1:20PM

A graph showing internet traffic to and

from Eqypt. Photo: Arbor Networks

As Egypt's government attempts to crackdown

on street protests

by shutting down internet and mobile phone

services, the US is preparing to reintroduce

a bill that could be used to shut down the

internet.

The legislation, which would grant US

President Barack Obama powers to seize

control of and even shut down the internet,

would soon be reintroduced to a senate

committee, Wired.com reported.

It was initially introduced last year

but expired with a new Congress.

 

Angry scenes ... protesters gather at the

statue of the Great in Cairo to

demand the resignation of Hosni Mubarak Photo:

AFP/Topshots

Senator , a co-sponsor of the

bill, said that unlike in Egypt, where the

government was using its powers to quell

dissent by shutting down the internet, it

would not.

“My legislation would provide a mechanism

for the government to work with the private

sector in the event of a true cyber

emergency,†said in an emailed

statement to Wired. “It would give our

nation the best tools available to swiftly

respond to a significant threat.â€

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.

 

The internet is a dangerous place ... US

Senator Joe Lieberman. Photo: AP

Last year, Lieberman argued the bill was

necessary to "preserve those networks and

assets and our country and protect our

people".

He said that, for all its allure, the

internet could also be a "dangerous place

with electronic pipelines that run directly

into everything from our personal bank

accounts to key infrastructure to government

and industrial secrets".

US economic security, national security and

public safety were now all at risk from new

kinds of enemies, including "cyber warriors,

cyber spies, cyber terrorists and cyber

criminals".

Although the bill was targetted at

protecting the US, many have said it would

also affect other nations.

One of Australia's top communications

experts, University of Sydney associate

professor Bjorn Landfeldt, had previously railed against the

idea, saying

shutting down the internet would "inflict an

enormous damage on the entire world".

He said it would be like giving a single

country "the right to poison the atmosphere,

or poison the ocean".

The scale of Egypt's crackdown on the

internet and mobile phones amid deadly

protests against the rule of President Hosni

Mubarak is unprecedented in the history of

the web, experts have said.

US President Barack Obama, social

networking sites and rights groups around

the world all condemned the moves by

Egyptian authorities to stop activists using

mobile phones and cyber technology to

organise rallies.

"It's a first in the history of the

internet," Rik Ferguson, an expert for Trend

Micro, the world's third biggest computer

security firm, said.

n Coulon, co-founder of Cedexis, a

French internet performance monitoring and

traffic management system, added: "In 24

hours we have lost 97 per cent of Egyptian

internet traffic".

Despite this, many Egyptians are finding

ways to get access, some using international

telephone numbers

to gain access to dial-up internet.

According to Renesys, a US Internet

monitoring company, Egypt's four main

internet service providers cut off

international access to their customers in a

near simultaneous move at 2234 GMT on

Thursday.

Around 23 million Egyptians have either

regular or occasional access to the

internet, according to official figures,

more than a quarter of the population.

"In an action unprecedented in internet

history, the Egyptian government appears to

have ordered service providers to shut down

all international connections to the

internet," Cowie of Renesys said in a

blog post.

Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt

and Etisalat Misr were all off air but Cowie

said one exception was the Noor Group, which

still has 83 live routes to its Egyptian

customers.

He said it was not clear why the Noor Group

was apparently unaffected "but we observe

that the Egyptian Stock Exchange

(www.egyptse.com) is still alive at a Noor

address."

Mobile telephone networks were also

severely disrupted in the country on Friday.

Phone signals were patchy and text messages

inoperative.

British-based Vodafone said all mobile

operators in Egypt had been "instructed"

Friday to suspend services in some areas

amid spiralling unrest, adding that under

Egyptian law it was "obliged" to comply with

the order.

Egyptian operator ECMS, linked to France's

Telecom-Orange, said the authorities had

ordered them to shut them off late Thursday.

"We had no warning, it was quite sudden," a

spokesman for Telecom-Orange told AFP in

France.

The shutdown in Egypt is the most

comprehensive official electronic blackout

of its kind, experts said.

Links to the web were cut for only a few

days during a wave of protests against

Myanmar's ruling military junta in 2007,

while demonstrations against the re-election

of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in

2009 specifically targeted Twitter and

Facebook.

Egypt – like Tunisia where mass popular

unrest drove out Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

earlier this month – is on a list of 13

countries classed as "enemies of the

internet" by media rights group Reporters

Without Borders (RSF).

"So far there has been no systematic

filtering by Egyptian authorities – they

have completely controlled the whole

internet," said Soazig Dollet, the Middle

East and North Africa specialist for RSF.

Condemnation of Egypt's internet crackdown

has been widespread.

Obama and Secretary of State Hillary

Clinton called on Cairo to restore the

internet and social networking sites.

Facebook, the world's largest social

network with nearly 600 million members, and

Twitter also weighed in.

"Although the turmoil in Egypt is a matter

for the Egyptian people and their government

to resolve, limiting Internet access for

millions of people is a matter of concern

for the global community," said

Noyes, a Facebook spokesman.

Twitter, which has more than 175 million

registered users, said of efforts to block

the service in Egypt: "We believe that the

open exchange of info & views benefits

societies & helps govts better connect

w/ their people."

US digital rights groups also criticised

the Egyptian government.

"This action is inconsistent with all

international human rights norms, and is

unprecedented in internet history," said

, president of the Center for

Democracy and Technology in the United

States.

- With AFP

[Guest guest]

Politicians don't have a clue about anything except lying, cheating and stealing. That and grabbing power and bribes. Political Science courses aren't about anything like actually solving problems and the law but are all about running campaigns, how to give flowery speeches while saying nothing, and fundraising. They get the education on dirty dealings on the job.

As for anything real they don't bother. So much better to take a bribe for doing the wrong thing when doing the right thing doesn't put any cash in their hands.

Can I point out that clearly the lawmakers haven't a clue about technology?

[Guest guest]

Unfortunately having the use of a functional brain is no longer a

requirement to vote in the US... It has never been a requirement to hold

public office... That is why the we daily find the country more deeply

mired in dodo... X;{

Can I point out that clearly the

lawmakers haven't a clue about technology?

On 1/31/11 11:25:46,

VISIGOTH@... wrote:

Â

Even with what is happening in Egypt, certain

Senators are again trying to push though an internet kill switch to put

in Obama's hands. They say there are safeguards, such as consulting with

private industry before turning anything off. Yeah, I feel so safe now.

Comcast, who dropped opposition to Net Neutrality in order to profit from

a merger that was being held up (isn't that blackmail?) and then accepted

government mandates for new TV networks and programming in order to

gobble up another company. They're really going to say " no "

when the government says to turn off the net.

Â

Enjoy the internet while you can. Dictators

and their cronies hate free access to information and communication.

That'll be gone soon. Funny though how the media isn't saying much about

this but if it were Bush, the media would be screaming bloody murder

24/7. Perhaps certain media organizations already have their exemption

waivers lined up so they can stay online since they are such good little

lapdogs.

Â

Â

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/as-egypt-goes-offline-us-gets-internet-kill-switch-bill-ready-20110131-1aah3.html

As Egypt goes offline US gets internet 'kill switch' bill

ready

Ben Grubb and Asher Moses

[Guest guest]

You are so right. At a time when we need intelligent statesmen we are stuck with grasping politicians.

Unfortunately having the use of a functional brain is no longer a requirement to vote in the US... It has never been a requirement to hold public office... That is why the we daily find the country more deeply mired in dodo... X;{