If you have paid any attention to the turmoil in Egypt you may be aware of President Hosni Mubarak's efforts to shut down the Internet. He has this right by law, and has had some limited success. Some people have been able to circumvent the government's controls by using foreign numbers or access codes.
Beyond the ability of people to circumvent controls, I am morally opposed to the practice. There is a senate bill that would grant the President some power to shut down internet service in time of emergency. I'm not comfortable with any President having such broad control, especially without knowing what event might be sufficient to take control.
We need much more information on what would apply, but I doubt there is any scenario where suspension of a now-critical service might be justified.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
31 January 2011
No Killers
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1 comment:
Imagine if someone had said back in the 1950's they were going to stop all radio transmissions in an emergency ...
I do remember right after 9-11 getting on the internet for the first few hours was pointless anyway. Most of the major news networks saw so much traffic that they basically shut down. Hopefully technology has come to such a point as to circumvent this problem. Seems like a bill to enhance the internet for emergency situations would be better placed!
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