The Fandom’s “Kill Switch”
04/05/2011
Editorial By: Rainstar
For the furry fandom, the internet is our primary source of life. Without the internet, we would not be able to talk to each other (save phone calls and text messages), publish and look at artwork, or organize a convention. Many furs openly state that when their internet goes out, they are at a loss of what to do. However, the rise of internet has brought along a plethora of problems and difficulties; some of which include: viruses, identity theft, and loss of personal ambiguity. All of these cybercrimes have caught the attention of many different organizations who hope to try and protect innocent people from enduring the troubles that come with them. One particular agency has taken special notice of this area, the U.S. government.
With the internet becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and the U.S. power grid dangerously unprotected, drastic measures have been put in place to ensure the national security of the United States. Events such as the WikiLeaks scandal and rumors of terrorist sleeper programs on America’s infrastructure have sparked U.S. Congress to pass the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act” (PCNAA). The act gives the President authority to shut down any section of the nation’s internet and power that is believed to be under attack. Quite simply, the President has been given an internet “Kill Switch.” Should the United States come under a cyber attack from a particular country, the President may give orders to internet companies to shut down all incoming information from that country. Also, the bill gives the President that power to shut the internet down completely and not allow any incoming or outgoing information whatsoever.
The bill also established the NCCC (National Center for Cyber Security) which has been assigned the task of monitoring the internet. The NCCC also can force major corporations to share their internet dealings with the agency. The goals of this organization are to monitor the internet for any harmful occurrences and to help prevent illegal funds from being electronically transferred over-seas.
What does this mean for the fandom? It means that all American furs may drop off the face of the Earth for no apparent reason. If the President and the NCCC determine that the internet is unsafe and endangering the national security of the nation, the U.S. will no longer be able to access the internet. Should this occur, we American furs will be cut off from our primary source of life in the fandom.
As a precaution, to ensure that this does not happen, furries beware of what you are posting to the internet. Should your pictures of files have corrupted material on them, you could be endangering the fandom in the U.S. Hackers beware also. Your attempt at a quick “lulz” could potentially freeze this nation in its tracks if you aren’t careful.
A Huffington Post article on the subject can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/17/internet-kill-switch-woul_n_615923.html
Further Reading:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/06/in-search-of-the-internet-kill-switch/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/7/the-internet-kill-switch-rebooted/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20029282-281.html
http://www.technologyreview.com/web/32451/page1/?a=f
http://www.switched.com/2011/02/01/internet-kill-switch-bill-what-it-is-wont-die/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/kill-switch-legislation/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20029302-501465.html
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Are there any real news sources you can link to?
Yeah, this isn’t really that big a deal, all it means is that in case of a terrorist attack they can stop the intenet. I seriously doubt they will abuse this as the intenet is circuses. And in some way’s this is good, as the big corps now have to be watched carefully.
I agree the internet is a big part of the economy now and growing. However things may change such as the threat against internet neutrality. What if the amount of money you had determined how fast your website loaded, regardless of connection speed? This internet kill switch however could turn into a morality act in the wrong hands. Blocking sites considered “indecent” to american values etc. I don’t care if it’s jewsforjesus.com or KKK.com no site should be blocked. But there is no word on it yet, I’m just throwing out possibilities.
The internet is too big to turn off.
If countries like Egypt and Libya can be taken off the internet in seconds by their governments, don’t think for a moment that the same thing can’t happen in the US. Remember. The US government created the internet. It’s not hard to think that they can’t also turn your access to it off.
in canada they already have to pay for the amount of bandwith they use. The clamps are starting to come down I think.
The internet is not own by US gov and anyone with a dial up modems can connection to the internet from a different country.
You are correct, it is not “owned” by the US Government, but the majority of the internet backbone, as well as a vast majority of what we use the internet for resides in the united states.
What you fail to realize is the same cables that carry telephone traffic, are also the same cables that carry the internet. They are one in the same and have been for a very long time. If the US wanted to cut off your access to the internet, they could easily just end your ability to dial other countries as well.
7 of the 13 Root Servers that directly control the internet are hosted here in the US as well. The broadcast nodes for the remaining 6 “anycast” servers are also here in the US. The government could simply have those systems disconnected and it would cripple the majority of the internet. The net as a whole might be able to send and recieve data, but with no central servers acting as the address book, unless you know the IP address, port and specific protocol settings for each service, your data would be lost in the ether.
There are dozens of ways for the government to be able to kill the internet. This bill would just finalize the method.
If the internet was owned by the United States Government the FCC would not have to have hearings with ISPs about Net Neutrality, they’d just force Comcast to do what they want them to do or cut them off. They didn’t. Can it happen? Yes, ANYTHING is plausible, given the atmosphere of our culture though it is far less likely. Republicans want to access their biased articles, and democrats want theirs getting out too, cutting the Internet would kill both of them since it would allow localized parties to flourish like back in the old days instead of country wide ideologies.
This. If they’re bailing out silly things such as banks and auto dealers for being ‘too big to fail’ the internet is all of those and then some. You wouldn’t be able to sell as many cars or make an online deposit with the internet dead.
oh great the prez is a lulz killer!~
It was good and informative until that last paragraph, I’m just going to assume that’s a joke and refrain from addressing it. Regardless this seems more than likely something that can be turned against the people of the US. What if our government’s corruption screws us over enough where people start to riot and rise against wall street and the government? The US will likely block the internet in order to help quell the situation and keep us in line.
Quite right. The last paragraph I posted as a note to my annoyance of hackers. I also used it as a closer. So yes, it was a joke haha.
wanker
OH SHI-!!!!!
Sounds like Egypt all over again.
I remember hearing something about this on “This Week in Tech” I think.
Behold the USA setting up more things that are supposed to “Protect your freedoms” but instead will more likely be abused and restrict them. In a way this is almost as bad as the net neutrality talks in Washington.
The only purpose a government has for a kill switch is to try and limit people from organizing and revolting against them like Egypt or Libya. Also if there was a terrorist attack and this was used it could cause more chaos than not using it seeing as with how information is gathered and reported from and on the net now a days it would cripple media in general.
If this bill does pass I think I am going to print out all the instructions to use Amateur Radio to illegally connect to the Internet just in case.
On another note what really scares me is the possibility of our government really abusing this. By this I mean use the Kill switch and fake an attack.
Governments including the US have done stuff like that before so I wouldn’t put it past them. And before anyone says something like “Oh that would never happen now a days” Where are the weapons of mass destruction that were supposed to be in Iraq.
Now I am not saying this will happen now or even 10 years from now but I for one do not want the government to have that ability.
Net nutrality? Is that whats coming?!?! wtf thats a violation of our rights.
If that happens, Furries will find a way through. As it is common knowledge, furries make the internet go.
WHAT’S THIS? NO INTERNET?… I’m sorry lost interrest after saying that, Wouldn’t bother me for more than a Day.
If our government decided to cut the Internet, Google would probably object, and they have a lot more money then our government does, and thus more clout.
Government censorship of Internet traffic is a very undesirable thing on all levels, not just what it would it mean for one fandom or another. The free flow of information is very worth fighting for however…
Funny thing about fandom–and our particular slice of fandom–it existed before the wide spread adoption of the Internet by most people. Conventions were organized and happened, art work was published on both professional and armature scales and fans still found each other. Would it be different if the Internet were to vanish in a puff of blue smoke tomorrow? Yeah, it would be. But it wouldn’t go away or be killed off.