Christopher Melley, OCU
The breakdown and breakup of the Internet is occurring before our very eyes. We have now seen examples of national censorship from China, more recently Egypt, and now the United States. China has a long record of scouring Internet sites for any uncomfortable mention of keywords such as “Taiwan” or “Tibet” or “democracy,” and has established itself as a capable Internet bammer (a cross between ban, basher, and hammer or bammer) in when it comes to one-time events such as the Nobel Prize for Peace recipient of Chinese origin whose address is a Chinese prison and coverage of the Chinese Olympics.
Most recently in Egypt, government IT staff have succeeded in taking down the Internet access to international sites, following massive and violent unrest against President Mubarek and his decades-long regime. But now, if that weren’t enough, the United States government is embracing this same idea, but with the flair of Hollywood, the government has conferred an iconic “kill switch” nickname to the new domain of Internet War, to presumably protect itself from someone opening up the floodgates of the Hoover Dam or protecting the citizenry from more unwelcome and embarrassing Wikileaks.
Most recently in Egypt, government IT staff have succeeded in taking down the Internet access to international sites, following massive and violent unrest against President Mubarek and his decades-long regime. But now, if that weren’t enough, the United States government is embracing this same idea, but with the flair of Hollywood, the government has conferred an iconic “kill switch” nickname to the new domain of Internet War, to presumably protect itself from someone opening up the floodgates of the Hoover Dam or protecting the citizenry from more unwelcome and embarrassing Wikileaks.
The “kill switch” legislation is now returning to the Senate for discussion and voting, while the American Civil Liberties Union has immediately written a public letter denouncing the plan as an initiative against liberty.
This “kill switch” idea welded by corporate and government agencies also finds it useful to squelch English Al Jazeera from most everywhere in the continental United States, though Canadian and European viewers can watch in-depth coverage of events unfolding in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. Governments - some at least - see the Internet as the battlefield. The first casualty, though, will be truth and clarity. I wonder what Orwell would have named this recent effort in redefining truth.
This “kill switch” idea welded by corporate and government agencies also finds it useful to squelch English Al Jazeera from most everywhere in the continental United States, though Canadian and European viewers can watch in-depth coverage of events unfolding in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. Governments - some at least - see the Internet as the battlefield. The first casualty, though, will be truth and clarity. I wonder what Orwell would have named this recent effort in redefining truth.
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