Let's be like Egypt! Internet Kill Switch

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/as-egypt-goes-offline-us-gets-internet-kill-switch-bill-ready-20110131-1aah3.html
Of course, there's nothing to worry about:

Senator Susan Collins, a co-sponsor of the bill, said that unlike in Egypt, where the government was using its powers to quell dissent by shutting down the internet, it would not.

[AZRedhawk44]

There is NO THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that could be launched digitally, that merits an innernetz kill switch.  Nuke power stations? Unplug THEM from the grid... don't take the grid offline.  Financial system corruption?  Unplug THEM from the grid... if you take the whole internet grid down then you add a greater degree of chaos.

Anyone threatened by a digital attack on the grid should unplug from the grid and re-assess security before re-attaching.

There IS A THREAT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that merits such a switch, to those in the halls of power.  And that threat is the free and rapid exchange of speech and ideas, coupled with the power of the citizenry to rapidly mobilize via internet communication.

[S. Williamson]

I honestly don't think a bill like this cou

[AZRedhawk44]

I honestly don't think a bill like this cou

.. / -.-. / .-- .... .- - / ..- / -.. .. -.. / - .... . .-. .

[kgbsquirrel]

.. / -.-. / .-- .... .- - / ..- / -.. .. -.. / - .... . .-. .

Transmitting in morse code is no reason to butcher the English language like a lazy texting teen.   *shocks with cattleprod repeatedly*

[seeker_two]

I honestly don't think a bill like this cou

....and that's the news from Cairo....over to you, fistful......

[freakazoid]

You can't stop the signal...

[French G.]

.. / -.-. / .-- .... .- - / ..- / -.. .. -.. / - .... . .-. .

I don't know morse code but I assume that says I see what you did there?

[sanglant]

You can't stop the signal...

that was "you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement""you can't stop a movement"

idiotic depends adds.

[MicroBalrog]

- .... . .-. . .----. ...   -. ---   .-. . .- .-..   .--. --- .. -. -   .. -.   - .... .. ...   -- --- .-. ... .   -.-. --- -.. .   -- . .- -. -.. . .-. .. -. --.   .. -.   - .... .   .- --. .   --- ..-.   .- ..- - --- -.-. --- -. ...- . .-. ... .. --- -.   ... --- ..-. - .-- .- .-. . .-.-.-

[Owens]

Microbalrog,

Made me think. I need to get my 75M dipole tuned and get the 706 in the mobile.

--...  ...--

[RocketMan]

Transmitting in morse code is no reason to butcher the English language like a lazy texting teen.   *shocks with cattleprod repeatedly*

Actually, shorthand like that has been a common practice when using Morse for over a hundred years.  It's done to save time, not to be cute or hip.

[RoadKingLarry]

Is it possible that knocking out the internet would be the straw that broke the camels back of apathy and wake up enough people to make a difference?


Nah, probably not.

[mtnbkr]

Actually, shorthand like that has been a common practice when using Morse for over a hundred years.  It's done to save time, not to be cute or hip.

Yup.  Nothing new at all. 

Chris

[sanglant]

and now o'really() is claiming obama can declare marshal law, and shutdown the internet. without having a new bill passed, to allow him to shutdown the internet.

i am starting to smell something bad, heading this way.

[230RN]

I got shouted down a couple of years ago when I suggested that there already was a metaphorical "switch" to shut down the net in America except for the military and possibly banking services.  And probably the comm satellites have a back door switch, too.

"Impossible!" they cried.

Hmmmm....  at the time, I thought it rather impossible for it not to be.  After all, military thinkers always plan to go after the communications setup of the opposition first.

Boy, my 13WPM is down to <2 WPM.  Time to re-load my old DOS-based Code Practice Program.

And maybe my old DOS-based dial-up Bulletin Board software, to boot.  What was the name of it..? oh, yeah... Procomm.

Oh, oh... and I should look up "silversmiths" in the yellow pages, call 'em up and see if they own any fast horses.

And I'll betcha all the large-scale gangs already have emergency communications setups. Block-to-block, city-to-city, county-to-county, state-to-state, and probably country-to-country, too.

Maybe by fast Chevvies.

Terry, 230RN

Cf also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station

[S. Williamson]

 

[Boomhauer]

 

[never_retreat]

Well I think that major difference between Egypt and here is the most of the communication company's were owned by the Egyptian gov't.
Not so much here in the US. How many thousands of company's would the government have to convince to actual "turn it off"?
How much money would those company's loose? I don't see many willing to do what the Gov't wants.

[Boomhauer]

Not so much here in the US. How many thousands of company's would the government have to convince to actual "turn it off"?

Unfortunately, some of the larger companies (Google and some of telecomm companies such as AT&T for instance) are way too OK with "cooperating" with the .gov...

Now, the smaller companies are likely to be a bit more opposed to fed .gov orders...

[never_retreat]

Unfortunately, some of the larger companies (Google and some of telecomm companies such as AT&T for instance) are way too OK with "cooperating" with the .gov...

Now, the smaller companies are likely to be a bit more opposed to fed .gov orders...

I also read some article that said something about an Italian based communications company operating in Egypt that was still running.
Also people with dedicated fiber seem to be unaffected. they seem to direct the disconnect towards the consumer type accounts.

[KD5NRH]

Now, the smaller companies are likely to be a bit more opposed to fed .gov orders...

That's fine; it doesn't take much to run a few USENET servers and mail servers.  That keeps one-to-one and one-to-many communication going.

I forget how many users we were able to handle with a Pentium 200 running Slackware as a testbed and internal USENET machine, but 75 actively using it at any given time wasn't a problem.  Even a tiny ISP would certainly have something vastly more powerful available the minute their commercial web hosting service is rendered useless by a shutdown.

[AZRedhawk44]

Even a tiny ISP would certainly have something vastly more powerful available the minute their commercial web hosting service is rendered useless by a shutdown.

Umm... no.

Maybe an hour or two afterwards, if they have a plan already formulated.

ISP's run very lean, and they don't leave armageddontikiwikiwtfbbqlolshtf servers running in the corner.

Most of 'em won't even have a tech that has proposed a plan, let alone an administrator that has carried that proposal to a lawyer-type and obtained approval.  And they won't invest capital in such a thing.

[KD5NRH]

Umm... no.

Maybe an hour or two afterwards, if they have a plan already formulated.

Oh, it'll be available right away.  It just may take them a while to figure out that it is.

ISP's run very lean, and they don't leave armageddontikiwikiwtfbbqlolshtf servers running in the corner.

That depends largely on the ISP.  We had lots of spare hardware laying around for testing and various projects.  Not top-of-the-line stuff, but on par with what some smaller ISPs were using in production.

Most of 'em won't even have a tech that has proposed a plan, let alone an administrator that has carried that proposal to a lawyer-type and obtained approval.  And they won't invest capital in such a thing.

A lot of the local ISPs around here are run by geeks with a little extra cash.  They don't run everything by lawyers, and a situation like that would be seen as a challenge. 

[AZRedhawk44]

Oh, it'll be available right away.  It just may take them a while to figure out that it is.

That depends largely on the ISP.  We had lots of spare hardware laying around for testing and various projects.  Not top-of-the-line stuff, but on par with what some smaller ISPs were using in production.

A lot of the local ISPs around here are run by geeks with a little extra cash.  They don't run everything by lawyers, and a situation like that would be seen as a challenge. 

Dismantling a production system that is contractually bound to offer "five nines" (99.999% uptime, or about 50 minutes of downtime annually) or some similar connectivity requirement, even if the innernetz does go offline in a Stalinesque way, is going to result in IT geeks without jobs and lawyers with LOTS of paperwork to handle.

I suspect that most/all professional ISPs will sit out an internet blackout due to contractual litigation fears, more than fears of government repercussions.