Egypt turns off internet, Lieberman wants same option for US

• Lan wrote on 2011-01-29 05:36
  [Image: http://www.boingboing.net/lieberman.jpg]

  
  

  On Thursday Jan 27th at 22:34 UTC the Egyptian Government effectively removed Egypt from the internet. Nearly all inbound and outbound connections to the web were shut down. The internet intelligence authority Renesys explains it here and confirms that "virtually all of Egypt's Internet addresses are now unreachable, worldwide." This has never happened before in the entire history of the internet, with a nation of this size. A block of this scale is completely unheard of, and Senator Joe Lieberman wants to be able to do the same thing in the US.
  
  This isn't a new move, last year Senators Lieberman and Collins introduced a fairly far-reaching bill that would allow the US Government to shut down civilian access to the internet should a "Cybersecurity Emergency" arise, and keep it offline indefinitely. That version of the bill received some criticism though Lieberman continued to insist it was important. The bill, now referred to as the 'Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act' (PCNAA) has been revised a bit and most notably now removes all judicial oversight. This bill is still currently circulating and will be voted on later this year. Lieberman has said it should be a top priority.
  
  It's worth noting that the US sends $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt. That makes the US the primary benefactor of the current Egyptian government. Vice President Joe Biden stated in an interview with Jim Lehrer on Thursday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has held that office since 1981, should not be considered a dictator. His opinion is not shared universally.
  
  Mother Jones has a fantastic play-by-play explaining the situation right now in Egypt, and there are reports that some people using Tor are able to skirt around the governmental blocks.
  
  This is something Americans should be paying very close attention to. Think about your daily life and how big a role the internet plays in it. Now think about what it would be like if one person had the authority to turn that off completely. If you can't imagine what that would be like you aren't alone. A week ago this was a hypothetical scenario. Now, you can just ask an Egyptian citizen what that feels like. Pay close attention to what happens with this bill.

  
  
  http://www.boingboing.net/2011/01/28/egypt-just-turned-of.html
  
  ...hahahhahahahahhahahahhahaahahahhahahahhahaha
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2011-01-29 05:39
  if that happens
  a civil war is worth fighting for
• Piero wrote on 2011-01-29 05:42
  If the internet gets shut down here in America, you can expect rage and protests.
• Okitaru wrote on 2011-01-29 05:44
  ITT:We move to Canada, if it happens there, we move to China, they'll probably keep it as is, strict, but existant.
• Time wrote on 2011-01-29 05:53

  Quote from Piero;309158:

  If the internet gets shut down here in America, you can expect rage and protests.

  
  
  After a while, lots of people probably dont know how to plan protests without the internet, or use a dictionary , so there would be a long time before there were organized protests, and longer still before there were witty slogans.
• User495 wrote on 2011-01-29 06:21
  o jeez, that sounds horrible, my closest friends are people I met online o_o
  
  imagine the chaos
  
  even if there WAS a cyberattack of some kind
  the Chaos from turning internet off is probably gonna be worse xD
• Kueh wrote on 2011-01-29 06:29

  Quote from Time;309170:

  After a while, lots of people probably dont know how to plan protests without the internet, or use a dictionary , so there would be a long time before there were organized protests, and longer still before there were witty slogans.

  
  
  "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
  [RIGHT]-Darth Vader[/RIGHT]
  
  People would still have phones you know? And the kind of people who would be at the heart of the protests actually still send letters. To think! In this day and age! But they do.
  
  Also, they wouldn't just shutoff the internet. You'd be able to get onto and contact any US based server. So we'd still be able to use the internet to plan.
  
  (Also also, if a situation like this spread to the US, I'm fairly confident that /b/ will find a way to bypass the lockdown and let everyone know.)
• Selithia wrote on 2011-01-29 08:05
  Dammit Lieberman why does my state keep voting you back in? Have you ever not championed something idiotic?
• Cannibal wrote on 2011-01-29 08:08
  There's probably nothing to worry about here...
• Phunkie wrote on 2011-01-29 10:24

  Quote from BobYoMeowMeow;309149:

  if that happens
  a civil war is worth fighting for

  
  
  I would join the military if this happened.
• Hebban wrote on 2011-01-29 13:21
  They have internet in Egypt? Okay, that was bad.
  
  On topic: FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT FOR A FREE EGYPT.
• Mama wrote on 2011-01-29 18:29
  huh, a lot of companies would lose a ton of money, and those companies have their hands in politician's pockets. It definitely won't happen.
  
  unless they make an exception for buying products. yay capitalism!
• Osayidan wrote on 2011-01-29 18:38
  Can't happen in the US.
  There's such a massive amount of commerce online that cutting the US off from the rest of the world will result in the loss of billions. Entire corporations will fall. Also, a lot of foreign companies are hosted in the US, or have branches in the US. There's a lot of internet exchange points in the US as well, connecting north america to the rest of the world.
  
  You would have to be more retarded than an inbred redneck with the confederate flag tattooed on his forehead to even consider this in the US.
• Spartaaaaa wrote on 2011-01-29 20:05

  Quote from Sevian;309195:

  
  even if there WAS a cyberattack of some kind
  the Chaos from turning internet off is probably gonna be worse xD

  
  
  LOL it's sort of like destroying all our infrastructure to prevent terrorists from attacking infrastructure!
• Osayidan wrote on 2011-01-29 22:07

  Quote from Spartaaaaa;309801:

  LOL it's sort of like destroying all our infrastructure to prevent terrorists from attacking infrastructure!

  
  
  That makes sense then.
  Maybe the government blew up the trade center when they noticed the plane was going to crash into it. It explains all the evidence of explosives that was seen.