Kevin Beaver's Security Blog

The Egyptian uprising tie-in with the U.S. Internet kill switch

The people rioting in Egypt against their oppressive government and the subsequent blocking of the Internet is an interesting issue that has a global reach. Foreign policy aside, have you stopped to think about the ramifications of the cybersecurity “kill switch” bills that our measly politicians are trying to force upon us?

As I wrote previously, the proposed Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (Senate Bill 773) and Lieberman-Collins-Carper Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 (Senate Bill 3480) provide undeterred powers to the government to effectively shutdown our economy as we know it. Would the president use this power during a cyberattack? Presumably. Would the president use it during an uprising like what’s going on in Egypt? It wouldn’t surprise me.

But, you say, all of this is happening in Egypt…this is America – we’d never reach that point! That’s a shortsighted and dangerous mindset. Just look at all the nonsense the Social Democrat Party have shoved on us the in the past two years alone…evidence enough to rational people that anything’s possible with a runaway government. Our government “leaders” don’t want to be questioned, they don’t want to explain their actions and they certainly don’t like it when people speak out against them. [The whole free speech thing cracks me up when you think about what the old-school liberals of the 1960s demanded, but that’s another story.]

As Senator Susan Collins recently said “unlike in Egypt, where the government was using its powers to quell dissent by shutting down the internet, it would not.” Oh, okay, we understand and believe you Senator Collins. The government has never put legislation in place for one purpose and ended up abusing it for other means down the road. We’re good. Here are some more details on this recent news:
As Egypt goes offline US gets internet ‘kill switch’ bill ready (the graph showing Internet traffic to and from Egypt last week is really interesting)

…according to Wired Magazine, it looks like the Lieberman-Collins-Carper cybersecurity bill is set to be reintroduced into a Senate committee any day now.

So, it’s scary to many what the Egyptian government did/is doing to it’s people and the U.S. is now wanting to put the same draconian powers in place? But you know it’ll be different here…like Socialism. It’s failed elsewhere for centuries, but big, strong America can make it work for the greater good of the people.

Folks: good, bad or ugly, our politicians are going to get their way. Way too many voters are concerned about what’s happening on Facebook, NCAA basketball and American Idol for us to be able to truly hold these people’s feet to the fire.

What can you do…? Interesting times indeed.