You don't protect cyberspace as a national asset by disconnecting the internet

the inmates are still running the asylum...

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), along with one Republican and Democratic senator, introduced a bill late last week that would allow the President to effectively disconnect the internet by emergency decree.

The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act would allow the President to disconnect Internet networks and force private websites to comply with broad cybersecurity measures.

Future US presidents would have their Internet "kill switch" powers renewed indefinitely.

The bill was introduced by Lieberman, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE). A parallel bill was drafted last year by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) which would allow the federal government to unilaterally "order the disconnection" of certain websites.

given that the internet is fast BECOMING the phone system, the newspaper, the television and the radio for a large chunk of the populace, the only reason to include provisions for shutting it down is to prevent the free flow of communication... otherwise, they would be talking about how to make sure it stays up and running safely despite any hostile attempts to take it down or compromise its integrity...

i don't know who these people think they're trying to bullshit, but i ain't one of 'em... you don't "protect" national assets by disconnecting them... you notice there aren't bills to turn off the phone system, newspapers, tv or radio... oh, wait... those are probably in the works too...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 2 comments

How high can the NYT pile shit in defense of Don Imus?

a lot higher than i would have suspected...

Mr. Imus is an old-school radio guy caught in a very modern media paradigm. When he started 30 years ago, if he made the same kind of remark, it would have floated off into the ether — the Federal Communications Commission, if it received complaints, might have taken notice, but few others.

this comment, to me, is almost as offensive as what mr. imus himself had to say... i've deliberately not posted anything on this tempest in a teapot because, plainly and simply, i don't give a rat's ass, but this knocked me off my early morning pegs...

i happen to have followed radio all my life (60 years this december), and, i can tell you, there is no way in HELL imus would have MADE a similar remark 30 years ago... 30 years ago, radio talk was a civil place, a benign place which, while maybe not all that substantive, was at least characterized by a certain decorum, the kind you would find in living rooms and coffee shops all over the country... imus may be old, but he certainly ain't "old-school..." imus represents the rise of the shock jock, the breed who made names for themselves by deliberately adopting the argot of the locker room and the all-night drinking and poker parties so beloved of testosterone devotees...

dating myself, i remember that it was morton downey jr. who really brought this type of broadcasting sewage fully into the public eye back in the early 80s... in fact, when downey left radio and turned to tv, his replacement was rush limbaugh... in any case, "old-school radio guy" is a patent lie and the new york times should be ashamed...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments