Wyden Supports Free Speech?

As someone who was born and raised in Oregon and could be considered a SNOB (Son of Native Oregon Born), I would be hard-pressed to support nearly any of the Senators or Representatives that come from my former home.

However, Democratic Senator, and a real bleed-heart liberal if there ever was one, Ron Wyden has decided that something like free-speech actually really matters. He has promised to filibuster the PROTECT IP Act once it makes it way to upper chamber. The bill was initially designed to make it more difficult to sell music, movies and counterfeit products illegally online. But Wyden and other who oppose the bill feel that it goes too far and infringes on free speech.

Now if we could be sure that Senator Wyden wouldn’t support giving President Obama the ability to knock out the internet whenever he might feel like.

Libya Shutdown Internet Access

Just so you are aware, the Libyan leadership has shutdown Internet access for Libyans.  I guess this would qualify as an emergency.  Would the FCC consider this an emergency if unrest happened in this country?  Mostly likely. What level would the unrest have to reach for the FCC and Sec of DHS to recommend to a President that the ‘Net needs to be shutdown for security reasons?

Obama and Internet Controls

Big article here about the Obama Administration’s desire to control the Internet. I have already said my piece about this issue so I won’t add too much commentary. It is a long read, but well worth your time if you want to know what might lie ahead when it comes to the Internet.

Internet Privacy Invasion

A few days ago I blogged about the possibility of Congress giving the President an “Internet Kill Switch”. This would give the President, with the advice of the Sec of Homeland Security, the ability to turn off portions of the internet in cases of emergency.  Just like what has happened in Egypt.  This has been a Democrat sponsored bill with a few RINOs thrown in for the appearance of bipartisanship. 

Now the Republicans are the one being stupid.  It seems they want Internet Service Providers (ISP) to record user data for a period of up to two years. This bill is mostly being highlighted as an effort to assist law enforcement agencies track nefarious activities with relation to images of children.

The CATO Institute has more.

Turning Off the Internet

A couple of days ago I blogged about the possibility that Congress will pass a law giving the President unprecedented powers over the Internet through the use of an “Internet Kill Switch” under cases of emergency.

Well, the government in Egypt has shut down Internet and phone access due to an emergency. See here, and here, and here.

Would what is happening in Egypt be considered a case of an emergency in President Obama mind? The leadership in that country has shut down Internet and phone access. There are three distinct differences between the USA and Egypt.  Egyptians don’t have the same level of freedom of speech and the press that we Americans have.  Most Egyptian media is officially controlled by the state.  Although the Egyptian government is supposed to be democratically elected its form of government is closer to Venezuela than to the USA. Yes there are elections, but to say they are free elections is stretching things a bit. Some would call it totalitarian. Thirdly, we have not yet experienced the level of protests against the government Egypt and Greece have experienced recently.

Internet Security and the Federal Gov't

They just keep chipping away at our freedoms and now they have come out of the closet. Last June, a bill introduced in the Senate was designed to give the President power over the Internet by giving the White House an Internet “Kill Switch”.

Under this bill, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would form a division named the National Center for Cyber-security and Communications (NCCC) that would monitor net traffic and keep an eye open for threats against the Internet. Under the NCCC all federal gov’t internet capabilities would be monitored by the NCCC. But, the bill would also declare “virtually all private communications infrastructure in the US “National Assets” over which the NCCC has vast regulatory power…” If a threat is detected, the Sec of DHS would let the President know what is going on and (s)he would order the offending site or area of the net shut down.

One of the key provisions within the bill is there will be absolutely no judicial review of these actions and the bill is written in such a way that prohibits the courts from reviewing it. There is an appeals avenue but that is to the Sec of DHS and that appeal is final. Kind of like the fox watching the henhouse.

The bill would authorize the DHS to monitor private providers of Internet access and content.  According the Sen Joe Lieberman (I-CT), a co-sponsor of the legislation, this bill would charge the DHS to “provide ‘situational awareness of the security status’ of the portions if the Internet that inside the US – and also those portions in other countries that, if disrupted, could cause significant harm”. (from CNET.com) The article goes on to state: