Internet “Kill Switch” Kills the 1st Amendment
January 28th, 2011In a recent post from Cato@Liberty we can see the disapproval of Egypt’s internet control is nothing to judge. This very thing could be possible here in the States. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) will be reintroducing their plans for an internet “Kill Switch” in the coming days in order to protect the country during an emergency.
Jim Harper writes:
We see here that a government with “kill switch” power will use it when the “emergency” is a challenge to its authority. When done in good faith, flipping an Internet “kill switch” would be stupid and self-destructive, tantamount to an auto-immune reaction that compounds the damage from a cybersecurity incident. The more likely use of “kill switch” authority would be bad faith, as the Egyptian government illustrates, to suppress speech and assembly rights.
Aside from curbing conversation, what other use does an internet kill switch have? Why else would the Federal Government have interest in closing off access to the web? It is almost so apparent it is sickening that taking away our 1st amendment rights over the internet is their plan to keep us in line.
