Internet 'kill switch' proposed for US

Originally posted by draevin

Originally posted by SpectreDC
Pfft, you think taking away peoples guns will cause an uprising?

I dare them to do this. They have no idea the enormity of the hornets nest they will be messing with.

World of Warcraft.

That crowd is brutal when they can't play their game.

yeah, no kidding on that one. when a new game comes out all the fanboys rush to the new game to make fun of it for days.

People will be pissed for sure if they get their internet turned off for no reason. I know I would be. I'd miss you guys if they turned out the "lights".

reply to post by Lynzer


Dont think so small about this. Any significant interuption of the internet, either localised to the US or spread wider, will have TERRIFYING consequences for world business, let alone all the knock on effects of those consequences. This would be a major deal, far more important than the effects seen in one mere nation... this would cause trouble all over the world, for billions, not millions of people.

Originally posted by SpectreDC
Pfft, you think taking away peoples guns will cause an uprising?

I dare them to do this. They have no idea the enormity of the hornets nest they will be messing with.

a bunch of out of shape fat people playing online games is a hornets nest?

The American public will react to this exactly the same way they reacted to the patriot act, the EBS, and every other infiltration of Government into private life:

They'll eat it by the shovel load, and put a big fat smile on saying "thank you, sir, may i have another"

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha

My thoughts too Lady Tuatha, we will have to go "old school" and relay information on short wave and citizens band, unless they impose a black out on radio communications. We can produce multi-media with important news on disk and physically deliver them in an underground network. Hell, we can use mirror and smoke signals in a line of sight relay network. Primitive as hell, but possible to get infomation under the radar of the FCC or who ever is policing communications.

In reply to "you can't just shut down internet":

You can make a LOT of havoc by simply sabotaging/preventing ICANN which is in US. There are a multitude of other non profit organizations in US on which many many internet services depend upon.

Then, you can create a law such that all ISPs in the US simply cut the pipe. But yes, protected corporations, government and some rich folk could have their own pipes.

Should I mention that internet is currently NOT free. You pay a bill for it to private corporations who then need (or even pay) a public license to operate. Additionally, distributing wireless internet access is not as easy as having a radio or TV station, it is much more expensive and difficult.

Therefore, simply cutting off internet access to US citizens and companies would cause great damage. I mean, for starters there wouldn't be ATS boards where you would moan all day . Only thing you could do on your own are telephone BBC networks. Or, small-range (talking very small) wireless networks, which then again, could be easily detected and disrupted. Finally, private broadband networks are doable with pirate hubs but also traceable. None would have access outside US or in most cases outside local neighbourhood.

That's just it in a nutshell!