All of the recent turmoil in Egypt caused the government to demand that all of the Internet Service Providers(ISP's) to shut off all Internet services in the country. Many of the anti- govenrment demonstrations taking place were organized on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter prompting the shut down. Now as Americans watch the events unfold in Egypt many ask the question, could the U.S end up with a "Kill Switch" for the Internet.?
The Protecting Cyperspace as a National Asset Act was introduced by Sen. Joe Liberman in 2011 that would allow the president to provide "emergency measures" to protect our infrastructure if there is a vunerable part of our Internet that is or is about to be exploited. Some interpreted the "emergency measures" to mean that the president could turn off the Internet at random, but that was later denied by Sen. Joe Liberman as not true. Section 706 of the Communications Act gives the president the authority to take over networks if there is a threat of war without the authorization of Congress. The Internet bill that will be reintroduced this year by Sen. Liberman, will require Congress approval and is intended to protect U.S. web infrastructures from cyber attacks in order to protect our economy and way of life.
Even though the lawmakers insist that none of the new Internet protection legislation being proposed will violate the First Amendment, it still has many free speech advocates worried. The president doesn't have a physical switch that could turn off the Internet, nor is it likely that he or any other president could ever get the major ISP's- Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner to shut down service if requested. The president relies heavily on social networking sites to communicate, and the goverment relies on the Internet to function, so it is doubtful that the government would want to shut off Internet service. However, if serious cyber attacks did occur that could threaten the safety of our goverment, communication services, and other critical parts of our life should we have a way to tighten our Internet security to try to prevent or lessen these attacks?
