Presidential authority to shut down / seize public internet?

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There's the answer, Tell our "representatives" how we feel about an issue, that will get their attention !

Look how effective it's been on other current issues :rolleyes:
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Making our voices heard has put the brakes on socializing medicine so it obviously can and does work. So will voting in 2010. Yes there will be vote fraud from the left but we can overwhelm them with legitimate votes.

The critical thing is to stay peaceful and work within the law. The one thing that will for sure trigger a new wave of gun grabbing and likely trigger shutting down free speech is violence. Some fool pulling a McVeigh is all the excuse that they need to bring back the AWB and shut down talk radio for spreading "hate". My feeling is that they are counting on there being at least one person just stupid enough to give them the excuse that they need. Don't be that fool.
 
What other option would you recommend then?
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Honestly neighbor? I don't know, while this is partially true;

Making our voices heard has put the brakes on socializing medicine so it obviously can and does work.
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And we seem to have "tapped" the brakes a bit, the train is still in motion.

So will voting in 2010
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While I agree that voting is the best way to make our voices heard clearly, my biggest concern is the cow may have left the barn before then. And legislation such as we are discussing now, will be law before then.

Directed at sholling:

I am not sure what you are implying by this;

Some fool pulling a McVeigh is all the excuse that they need to bring back the AWB and shut down talk radio for spreading "hate". My feeling is that they are counting on there being at least one person just stupid enough to give them the excuse that they need. Don't be that fool.
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But the report post button has been pressed.
 
Thin skinned aren't we. You just happened to be the one that stated that complaining to our representatives doesn't do any good. My response to your statement was meant to say that none of us should be the fool that pulls a McVeigh - not you specifically.
 
OuTcAsT said:
Honestly neighbor? I don't know,
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I cannot envision any scenario within the realm of reason where the government of the United States would attempt to shutdown the public use of the internet.

One, I don't think it would be possible to do completely, (I am an IT person) and two, it would shutdown our economy if they could and did do it.

I do think their is a real threat from hostile foreign powers to the Internet and that our government should take steps to protect it but the idea that some would be tyrant would do it is IMO beyond the pale.

Remember, vote and the choice is yours, don't vote and the choice is theirs. :cool:
 
The pertinent part of the bill is very ambiguous (probably intentional) and so it's too tough to judge what powers the WH will have over the Internet.

My how much things change with a new administration - or rather I should say, how much things don't change. I read the article and the bill and it smelled an awful lot like the Patriot Act. After all, this is all done to help secure America and in the name of National Security, isn't it? Trample on rights and destroy civil liberties but wrap it up in an American Flag and it's all good, right? :rolleyes:

sholling said:
People know to look on fox or newsbusters, or Rush's site for news of what's really going on, or for where the TEA parties will be held. If those are down and and non-corporate email is down how will people know to look on specific corporate websites for news or TEA Party dates?
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Wildalaska said:
You dont need the internet to fight a government.

Ask Czar Nicholas
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Or Paul Revere, William Dawes, Dr. Samuel Prescott or the dozens of other riders who helped muster nearly 16,000 people in 24 hours - without television, telephone, telegraph, and certainly without FOX news or the Internet.

sholling said:
Getting back to the subject at hand I think we should all be writing our congress critters and telling them to nip this in the bud.
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Now this is something we can all agree on. If you'd rather not have this stinking piece of...legislation...make it out of committee, get off the keyboard and find something to write on. I've got my pen and paper out as I type this. That's right - pen and paper. Write an analog letter to your congressmen - it shows you took the time to actually write something, put it an envelope, stamp it and put it into a mailbox.

ETA: Oh, and one more thing: If you care about freedom in the digital age, join the Electronic Frontier Foundation. And now I'm off to take my own advice...
 
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Or Paul Revere, William Dawes, Dr. Samuel Prescott or the dozens of other riders who helped muster nearly 16,000 people in 24 hours - without television, telephone, telegraph, and certainly without FOX news or the Internet.
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The country is a bit bigger than the greater Boston Area and an organized militia was waiting for word of the British via a prearranged method of communication. If the mainstream media only reports the official government line and the web and email are down, and talk radio has been replaced by public radio there simply is no way to spread news far enough and fast enough. It was only the use of the web and email that allowed the TEA parties to get rolling. Fox and talk radio jumped on the boat late.
 
The country is a bit bigger than the greater Boston Area and an organized militia was waiting for word of the British via a prearranged method of communication. If the mainstream media only reports the official government line and the web and email are down, and talk radio has been replaced by public radio there simply is no way to spread news far enough and fast enough. It was only the use of the web and email that allowed the TEA parties to get rolling. Fox and talk radio jumped on the boat late.
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Yeah well 1917 Russia was a lot bigger than the greater Boston area:rolleyes:

I'd be more worried about BB seizing Xerox machines.

WildorpensandstaplegunsAlaska ™
 
Becoming a little too conspiracy minded and political for me. Let's stop planning the revolution, claiming that party X or Y has evil plans or some blowhard on talk radio tells it like it is.

Back to the theoretical issue, can we? :cool:
 
Just turn off public internet access for half a day and see the result.

Public spontaneous political combustion. No way that would pass or stand.
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I think I covered that. In the event of an assassination attempt and/or one or more McVeigh type bombing and the mainstream media crowing that right wing radical militias were using the Internet to coordinate domestic terrorism. Shuttering email and the web...
"Just for the duration of the emergency" of course. 1/3 of people would seethe, 1/3 would say it's justified for the duration of the "emergency", and the 1/3 that make up the faithful would cheer the government shuttering opposition sites.​
Remember traditional media (newspapers and TV) would be acting as cheerleaders for this action and stirring the public into a panic. The web has been killing off newspapers for years and you can bet they would think a 6 month shutdown of the web would be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The 1/3 upset by this have grown to rely on email and blogs for coordination. The TEA party movement is a great example. They would seethe but be ignored by the media. Anyone turning to violence would just give the government an excuse to extend the "emergency" restrictions.
 
Let's see... TEOTWAWKI; Skirting the language filters; Invectives; Politics; general rants ....

Nope. This one has played out.
 
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