NOT okay with me -- Obama to rule the internet?

[lblanchard]

That's a bit melodramatic, but only a bit. According to C|NET, there's a bill rattling around in Congress that would allow the president to take control of the Internet in a "cyber emergency."

Maybe that's okay with you because you trust Obama.

But eventually he will not be in office. Would you like President Dick Cheney, to invoke a favorite bugaboo, controlling your internet?

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=123631719165&h=zytAt&u=NdV35&ref=mf

Comments

[arianadii.livejournal.com]

What the helk is a cyber emergency? That is the question.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I think the example they gave was an attack on the electrical grid emanating from a broadband account or accounts, but I can see where the folks quoted there will be alarmed in the absence of more information.

[sueschus.livejournal.com]

Gore 'invented' the internet. Guess the Dems can define 'cyber emergency'.

[pameladean]

I'm not on Facebook and don't want to be, so I Googled around.

Here's another assessment of the bill:

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_drudgeinternet_takeover_scare.php

P.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Ooops, sorry. I saw it on CNET and posted it to Facebook, then went back to pick up the link, forgetting that Facebook makes the links their own.

I'm sure that Drudge had a bit fat scare headline.

Ambinder says skepticism is warranted, and a suspicious look at just what these powers are going to be. I agree. I just worry that anything too vaguely worded could allow some future president or his handlers to overreact and stifle communication that includes vital information being tweeted up (or whatever) from the hive mind.

[melvin-udall.livejournal.com]

What's there to worry about? Even if this became law we wouldn't have to worry about it kicking in unless there was such an event as a Reichsta... nevermind. :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't want any politician running the Internet.

The Internet is ours, not theirs. They don't have the right....

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

One can only hope.