obama kill switch

News has been filtering out of Egypt over the past few days that internet access in the country has been extremely limited. Computerworld reported today; “Egypt is now off the grid.” They write, “Four days after the Egyptian government ordered Internet service providers to disconnect from the Internet, the country’s last working Internet company has abruptly vanished from cyberspace.”

Here in the U.S., there’s a piece of legislation on the table, drafted by Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, that would offer President Obama a “kill switch,” effectively allowing him to shut down the Internet during a national emergency. Brandon Milhorn, counsel for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says, ”We’re not trying to mandate any requirements for the entire Internet, the entire Internet backbone… (just the) crucial components that form our nation’s critical infrastructure.”

So a shocking prospect if a national emergency was ever to arise but according to reports it wouldn't include social network platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.

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