Bill Allows Obama Power to Shut Down Internet

[jsloan]

this is no joke, very dangerous bill, call your congress person to stop it, imagine some nut job that we elect that wanted to take over the place, all he would have to do is declare a cyber attack and shut it down, take it over, ect. best not give anyone such power. internet should be outside government, politicians corrupt hands.

 

[onerec]

WheelsOfConfusion :

Why don't you give one great idea so we can discuss about it. I believe you don't know what's really happening that why you can't ride with the discussion. Try to investigate first and collect some useful informations then maybe you can go on with the discussion.

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]megamanx00[/nom]I'll just put it this way. If a bill like this had been passed under Bill Clinton and then Bush used it when he got into power would you regret it? Hey, a Republican will unfortunately get into office again eventually, and worst case it's the Alaskan soccer mom. Honestly I'm not as worried about Obama using this power as those whom may come after him. That is why Presidential power must be limited in the first place.[/citation]

I don't give a rats ass as to who it is. No one should have that amount of power. Also like Comcast trying to put a bandwidth cap. Should not ever be approved.

And BTW, the President is pretty limited. If this does come to pass we have no one but ourselves to blame as we never change the one part of the Government that has the most power. Congress. We never truly rid it of the people who have been there for the longest time. And everything the President wants to put through has to be approved. Military budgets, state budgets, tax breaks. Anything.

So remember. If this does get passed and some president uses it in the future then we can only blame ourselves for not changing the most powerful part of the Government.

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

[citation][nom]onerec[/nom]WheelsOfConfusion :Why don't you give one great idea so we can discuss about it. I believe you don't know what's really happening that why you can't ride with the discussion. Try to investigate first and collect some useful informations then maybe you can go on with the discussion.[/citation]
As part of my investigation.... *gets out a notepad and a pen*
Mr. Onerec, what would you say is the danger of this bill? Will it ultimately lead to those Ameros?

 

[rdawise]

Wheels, any conversion on Obama is this crazy and ridiculous. But Let me answer some things quickly:

[citation][nom]daekar[/nom]This is actually incorrect. Constitutionally speaking, the President does not have the authority to declare war on another country. He is permitted to ask Congress, and it is Congress alone that holds the power to formally declare war on another country. [/citation]

You are only partially correct in correcting me my friend. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 says:
"the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or if the United States is already under attack or serious threat."
Note the last part, or if the US is already under attack or serious threat. A massive cyber-attack on the US Government would be considered a serious threat don't you agree?

[citation][nom]tayb[/nom]At what point do you pro big government liberal morons wake up? I guess when you wake up with the Bill of Rights removed from the constitution you will realize, "Oh we fucked up." Bunch of idiots running the country letting history repeat itself. No, MAKING history repeat itself.[/citation]

You do realize that one of the originators of the Bill is a right wing republican? In fact, if i'm not mistaken, most republicans are for net censorship (as long as it doesn't affect business).

[citation][nom]jwl3[/nom]And here every insano was screaming about Bush becoming Emperor in chief. Boy, what a wrong guess. Turns out it's the "enlightened, elitist, liberal, turd" who's doing power grabs. But that's ok with the left-wing socialists cause he's their kind of guy.[/citation]
You're right, what were we thinking? I mean in 8 years Bush just massively screwed up the war on terror (although the surge by Gen. did clean up the mess), Katrina, the economic system, and least we forget Gitmo and the infamous Patriot Act (but yet it's the left wing who wants to take you rights!). Obama has surpassed all that in 3 months, yeah right.

I swear I feel like some people are here from the sixties and we us to hide under our desks for the Soviet to hit us with a nuke. Again I say read the article people. Yes the Bill itself is something to be looked at very closely. It could start a slippery slope. At the same time it is the price you sometimes pay to have the freedoms we enjoy. Freedom isn't free, it comes with a price. You don't think you rights aren't violated everytime you leave the house. The average person is monitored a least twice a day, WITHOUT YOU GIVING PERMISSION.

Can someone who read the article please just tell me, how do you get Obama and communism from this?

Go back to the CPU and Graphics cards articles...unless you think Obama has turned them into mini spy devices so he can steal your brain waves.

...[Search for his aluminum hat]...

People are funny.

 

[onerec]

[citation][nom]WheelsOfConfusion[/nom]I keep thinking I should pick out a comment and respond to it to try and draw up a reasoned discussion. Honest, I do. But then I give up, wishing the forums and comments featured an "Ignore" capability. I'd be using the Hell out of it right now on anybody saying "Zeitgeist," "new world order," or "communism!" I haven't been checking diligently: are all the Obama-related news posts on Tom's this crazy? Surely some among you panicky posters can do more than spout off a few ominous phrases, right? I'd like to see some kind of reason for this apparent paranoia, to be convinced that I should be concerned. Somebody please stick around and explain things?[/citation]


Why don't you give one great idea so we can discuss about it. I believe you don't know what's really happening that why you can't ride with the discussion. Try to investigate first and collect some useful informations then maybe you can go on with the discussion.

 

[greliu]

I don't think something like this would pass. I would think that congress and even Obama know that this would just piss off even more Americans. Maybe this is why Obama wants to change gun rights lol. However, if it does pass, who is charging up pennsylvania avenue with me?

 

[mdillenbeck]

Communism? Where in his administration is Obama saying he wishes for the state to seize personal property and resources and place its distribution in the hands of the state? Where does the democratic party say they wish to assign you to a work role and how they will set up rationing?

Please do not confuse socially responsible services that a government should provide to its citizens with an socioeconomic system that removes ALL private ownership and places it in the hands of the state.

Is this bill communism? No. However, it is very dangerous. A good analogy would be giving the President the power of hitting a kill-switch to shut down all telephone lines or the US power grid. I can see where misguided humanists could see justification of putting such a power in the hands of the state, but I am not one of them.

However, I would like to note it is not as great a threat to democracy as the PATRIOT ACT was. Nor is it as dangerous an idea as the declaration of the "War on Terror", where the combatants are given neither protection of US Law nor the protections of enemy combatants (since they serve no state and thus are considered "illegal combatants"). The latter is easily abused, such as taxgirl blog post about a US citizen who is labeled as making "terroristic threats" - how long until someone like him is labeled a terrorist and hauled off without due process?

As to Zeitgeist, I am familiar with the more generic psychological term. Zeitgeist is a German language expression literally translated: Zeit, time; Geist, spirit, meaning "the spirit of the age and its society". I'll look into the movie in a bit, but I suspect the title has little to do with the meaning of this word.

 

[anders009]

It's nice to see some rational thinking and disucssion going on here versus the standard drive by repukelican/limba mantra that we are heading for a communist hell in the hand basket. And shame on you Toms Hardware for fanning the flames....it's this kind of irresponsible journalism that further divides this country. I'm not for censorship, but I miss the integrity that used to be in journalism. Buy hey, TW is just a twitter/blog on the intertubes, so you can't take it that seriously.

 

[Maxor127]

It's funny how and sad at the same time how many people can't read or understand what they're reading. I think America should adopt an Aztec-style theocracy just so we can be free to start chucking idiots into a sacrificial fire since natural selection will no longer do its work and our country is destined to end up like the movie Idiocracy. Idiotic comments have spread throughout all news sites. If a president were given the power to shut down the internet, it would be a blessing in disguise because uneducated retards would no longer have a forum to express their inane ideas.

 

[methal]

This idiot "president" is going to screw the USA 7 ways from sunday. He is assuming power he does not have the authority to assume. You CAN NOT vote someone into office to do things you don't have the right to do. From whom is he getting the right to shut down something he does not own? The internet is none of the governments damned business. Along with 99% of the stuff they think they have rights too.

 

[jerreece]

I thought Bush was bad: Ignoring the US Constitution with the "Patriot Act" and all.

Now Obama is going to be given full authority over our 1st Amendment Rights to free speech (dare I say free communication?)

I never voted to Bush, and I never voted for Obama. Proud to be able to say both.

 

[Osiris454]

The bill has merit. The only way you can stop a cyber attack is to cut yourself off from the attackers.
There are many things that can go wrong. Like the very fact that government control even in extreme situations goes directly against the 1st amendment.
You also have to consider this: If the government controls nothing and there IS a cyber attack, who are you going to blame? Yourself....No. Your going to blame the government for not doing anything about it. When the government takes a pro-active approach people complain about their freedoms, and when the government takes a re-active approach people STILL complain as to why they did nothing. Besides what are YOU going to do about it? I've already e-mailed and called my congressman expressing my concerns. So, are you going to do the same or just complain? Democracy. You should try to at least use it.

 

[Osiris454]

Just mostly venting.

 

[kugi]

shut down the internet to prevent news from going out about zombies are eating us.

 

[rdawise]

I must comment once again, though I noticed a few more sane people have come online...

[citation][nom]methal[/nom]This idiot "president" is going to screw the USA 7 ways from sunday. He is assuming power he does not have the authority to assume. You CAN NOT vote someone into office to do things you don't have the right to do. From whom is he getting the right to shut down something he does not own? The internet is none of the governments damned business. Along with 99% of the stuff they think they have rights too.[/citation]

HE isn't assuming anything...THE SENATE IS PROPOSING TO GIVE HIM THE POWER! Please read the article.

[citation][nom]jerreece[/nom]I thought Bush was bad: Ignoring the US Constitution with the "Patriot Act" and all.Now Obama is going to be given full authority over our 1st Amendment Rights to free speech (dare I say free communication?)I never voted to Bush, and I never voted for Obama. Proud to be able to say both.[/citation]
No one is taking CRAP FROM YOU..OMG READ. Or has Obama already taken that from you as well. (I always wondered, when people say freedom of speech, why don't they run into a movie theater and yell "Fire". See how free your speech really is..)

Again I say...people are funny.

 

[rdawise]

Osiris is now to be christened..."The King of this Discussion".

Great point. I am humbled. Thank you for saying that.

(Hopefully someone else will take suit).

 

[onerec]

Most people just ignore things because they have no idea what is really going on. There are other things we should be aware of if internet is shutdown. Most specially media and truthful informations.

 

[duckmanx88]

its probably just a bill submitted because of the conflicker worm to stop its spread if something drastic were to happen. also keep politics out of this site. keep your personal beliefs to yourselves

 

[hemelskonijn]

When protecting your freedom costs you your freedom its time to think twice before letting it happend

 

[Guest]

People... read the bill. It isn't just about shutting down the internet. Look at the intrusion into private businesses and networks that is proposed. Did you notice all of the points about identifying people? They want to take the anonymity out of the internet. The first step to crushing free speech is making people afraid they will be identified and targeted for "investigation."

It doesn't matter if its president Hussein, good ole "W" or whoever might come down the road later. The problem is that our government... any member or component of said government... could possibly have this kind of power.

Wake up people... the more power, the more influence, the more fingers we allow the government to have in our lives is a bad thing. Read the constitution! Governments power is to be severely restricted. Every time you vote for someone who is willing to trade those restrictions out of fear or a false sense of "duty to protect America," you take us one more step closer to a society where the people are no longer individually in charge of their lives, but the government is. Call it socialism, Marxism, communism, obamaism, bushism, whatever.... It's all bad!

 

[pocketdrummer]

ok... Barack is cool and all. But WTF is this!?

I'm giving this one a strong HELL NO!

 

[Guest]

I think we should shut down the internet for one day each and every month so people could go outside and play.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

I never realised the US visitors to Toms' were so largely Republican. Not just republican but over the top "socialism = communism" red necks by the sounds of things. Crazy.

 

[Cuddles]

Actually the analogy to Communism is wrong. We are one Judge away from being a Facist Regime. The Presidency, House, and Senate have enough Democrats in them to make the Republicans nonexistant. The only thing that is keeping us from a Facist Regime is that our Judicial branch isn't of Liberal makeup but to be truthful we are one Judge away.
Most people don't know this but the Nazi Power was elected into power and became dominant after a massive Stimulus Bill to reverse the Depression in Germany.
These are scary times to be living in. How many Democratic Senators wanted the names of the people working at AIG handed out to the public? Quite a few did and this was done even after it was acknowledged that these people and their families would be in harms way.
Some of these people were working for $1.00 trying to help the American people and these Senators wanted them to be killed. Over what...money?
Now we have this bill seeking to place even more power into the Presidents hand. What the secret media blitz against Rush by the White House wasn't enough?
We are at a point when even being a little critical of President Obama can put your entire life at risk. This isn't right. This isn't America. We should be able to critisize our President and be safe. The President shouldn't be firing CEO's of Private Companies, he shouldn't be forcing American Companies to be sold to foreign ones, he shouldn't be seizing Banks, and I could go on.
This is the first President that I have lived under that scares me and it's only been about 80 days since he took office. Giving this President the ability to take control of the last form of free speech is just the final nail.