Check Free Internet Security | Positionnement Internet

Since its inception, the internet has been a bastion for free speech, enabling any individual to put their message across to the world. However, in the name of internet security, the U.S. government is passing legislation that threatens to end the era of a free and unregulated Internet.

Calls to introduce global treaties and a licensing system to regulate the Internet were made at the 2010 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Their session summary Securing Cyberspace states “In the future, users may need to have an authenticated “driver’s license” when cruising the Internet superhighway.”

Legislation That Gives the U.S. Government Control Over the Internet

The Cybersecurity Act 2009, introduced by Senator Jay Rockefeller (Democrat, West Virginia) states that the President may shut down internet traffic in an emergency to and from any “critical infrastructure information system or network” as stated in Paragraph 315. The act fails to define what is meant by “critical.”

On June 19 2010, Senator Joe Lieberman (Independent Democrat, Connecticut) introduced the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PCNAA). According to Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, education foundation, the bill contains a “kill switch” allowing the president to seize control over the internet and shut it down. The bill will create the National Centre for Cybersecurity and Communications, who will have authority to monitor the “security status” of private websites, as well as that of broadband providers and other internet components, who will be forced to comply with any emergency action developed by the Department of Homeland Security. Filmmaker and radio host Alex Jones claims that the bill will require internet users to have government mandated ID “Tokens” without which no-one will be allowed to visit websites.

Although many people may believe such government control over the internet would be necessary for the purpose of internet security, much evidence sugests that the real agenda behind such legislation is to enable the government to control the content of the internet and control free speech, allowing the government to silence many of its critics.

The Department of Homeland Security, through which the President would be able to shut down the internet under the PCNAA, issued a report in 2009 to law enforcement agencies warning of the threat of terrorism from right-wing groups.

In an interview with CNN, Senator Lieberman compared the forthcoming PCNAA to China’s internet policies stating that, “right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war and we need to have that here too.” However, as highlighted in a report from Reuters, the Chinese government has used its power over the internet to control the online news media, and has shut down the internet at politically sensitive times.