Joseph Lieberman and two other senators who plan to give the US President emergency Internet authority, otherwise know as the “Internet KILL Switch” are protesting comparisons to Iran, China, Egypt, and Syria cutting off their citizens access to the Internet. Critics say that this will put the US in the same group – “the Coalition for Internet Censorship”.
This legislation was introduced last year by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) without much notice. A summary prepared by Sen. Lieberman’s committee states that should the president declare a “cyber emergency,” the Department of Homeland Security could “issue mandatory emergency measures necessary to preserve the reliable operation of covered critical infrastructure.” Those “mandatory” measures could include ordering “critical” computers, networks, or Web sites immediately disconnected from the Internet – hence the less than flattering term: “Internet Kill Switch”.
This proposed bill also includes controversial language saying that the federal government’s designation of vital Internet or other computer systems “shall not be subject to judicial review.” Even more worrisome is the fact that this language did not appear in the initial version introduced last year – it was added during the Tunisian uprising this year.
Timing is everything. So while this bill receive little notice anywhere for over a year, less than 24 hours after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democrat leadership sent out a rather vague press release mentioning a bill that would “safeguard” the Internet, then president Mubarak of Egypt flipped his own “Internet Kill Switch” and Egypt went off-line. I am sure president Mubarak had good reason to disconnect his citizens and its commerce from the rest of the word, as do the leaders of Iran, Syria, China and of course Libya. Is this the group we want to be in?
The rational used for this bill makes as much sense as giving the president the authority to remove our access to our firearms should a treat, say an armed rebellion, occur within our borders. “It’s part of growing recognition that centralizing control of communications infrastructure with government is poor civic hygiene,” said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute.
In a formidable democracy and world super power that is the United States of America, our civil liberties can not be compromised or taken away by some foreign tyrannical foe. In our democracy, we simply vote it all away one small piece at a time. It’s death by a thousand cuts.
