A little while ago, the topic of the President having the power to shut down the Internet came up. This would be for, of course, national security purposes. Naturally, there was the concern for the abuse of power that would entail. But I think this whole issue highlights the problem with the farcical notions of national security in this country.
The premise behind this expanded power for the President is because a cyber attack could dismantle our entire country’s economy in one fell swoop. Personally I think that most people have watched too much television and don’t really realize just how impossible it would be to do this. That aside, I’ve heard too many idiots call in to talk shows and declare that national security interests trumps all other issues.
Think about that. People are all too willing in this country to give selfish, irrational individuals the power to shut down communication networks solely for the sake of national security. Do you honestly expect any politicians, who would kill his own mother if it benefited him, to not lie about this in order take over the Internet? Even if the person with their finger at the Internet kill switch was a saint, he or she would still be tempted to use that power for his or her own benefit. And when there are no immediate consequences, usually those temptations are hard to fight.
On the topic of a cyber attack, the problem is that while there certainly could be a huge cyber attack that disables some sections of the government, it would be very hard to do so and the ones that really matter are more than likely not connected to any outside network. The same is true for vital services like water and power. Most of those should be closed networks that would be very difficult to disable.
Another problem I have with this liberty-killing option is that the Internet has next to nothing to do with national security. How many people are the Internet on a daily basis for whatever reason? Do you honestly think that our nuclear missile systems are accessible via the World Wide Web?
Finally, why should the government be in the business of protecting private entities from foreign governments when it comes to Internet security. Last I checked, the financial sector has better protections than some of the Federal government’s own agencies. Shouldn’t the focus instead be on the critical government systems and not on private entities who have a much larger financial stake in maintaining their security?
Cyber warfare is not as dangerous as you might think and this seems to be large overreach of government power. It would be worse than the USA PATRIOT Act, where instead of merely watching us online, they would be shutting down speech they don’t like in the name of “National Security.” And far too many people would fall for the ruse.