There is a bill slowly and quietly being pushed through Senate by the ■■■■■-ball Senator, John Rockefeller, who has decided that the Internet should be easily shut on and off like a switch at the President’s whim. The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (Senate Bill S.773) gives the president the ability to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” and shut down or limit Internet traffic in any “critical” information network “in the interest of national security.” The bill does not define a critical information network or a cybersecurity emergency. That definition would be left to the president. I saw this introduced 6 months ago or so, but didn’t think it would get anywhere. Since then there has been at least 3 other Senators co-sponsor the bill and it’s been referred to the committee.
This is a gross over-reach of power on the very last thing left in the West which hasn’t been tainted by speech-police and is truly a free medium for discussion, furthermore it is more like a dictatorship bill than a democracy or republic bill because it is at the discretion of one man, the President. Since when did America end subscribing to freedom and begin supporting monarchs and dictators?
If you are one of the people who endorse this kind of practice because you are shaking underneath your covers at night in fear of Al Qaeda being under your bed, then by all means, get off this illegal terrorist piracy site! For those of you who love freedom on the Internet, support such concepts as Net Nuetrality and are NOT comfortable with the government, but especially one person having God-like authority to shut down your access to the Internet to protect you from terrorists (most of you) read the next paragraph.
You can view the bill in it’s entirety via GovTrack and if you aren’t a lawyer, you can read this article from Mother Jones magazine, a left-leaning news medium (so you know it’s not just party politics).
If you are opposed and want to help save the Internet from this stalinist bill, Sign the Internet Users’ Mandate at Campaign for Liberty ( http://www.chooseliberty.org/internettakeover.aspx ), which will forward automatically to your State’s senators. Be advised that you must put real information or there is no point in doing it at all and you must live in the USA. You do not have to donate any money, after you submit the form the site asks for a donation to help grassroots efforts, you do not have to donate a penny.
And in case anyone is wondering what Senator John Rockefeller’s views on the Internet in general are, check out the following CSPAN clip from YouTube which he said no more than 2 weeks before introducing this new legislature to the Senate. Check it out: