Internet Kill switch

[bacpacker]

I have heard about this for years without giving it much credability. But with all the NSA reports of late, it does make sense. The goverments of Eygpt for example, shut down the internet during the riots from the muslim spring before Mubark got threw out. So I have no doubt the US can do the same thing. I haven't ever seen an article much about it until tonight. So I thought I would throw it up and see what everyone else's thought were.

http://freebeacon.com/court-homeland...t-kill-switch/

The Washington Free Beacon
Court: Homeland Security Must Disclose ‘Internet Kill Switch’
DHS protocol governs shutting down wireless networks to prevent bomb detonation
BY: CJ Ciaramella

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must disclose its plans for a so-called Internet “kill switch,” a federal court ruled on Tuesday.

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the agency’s arguments that its protocols surrounding an Internet kill switch were exempt from public disclosure and ordered the agency to release the records in 30 days. However, the court left the door open for the agency to appeal the ruling.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is seeking “Standard Operating Procedure 303,” also known as the “Internet kill switch” from Homeland Security. The protocols govern shutting down wireless networks to prevent the remote detonation of bombs.

The broad government power to shut down communications networks worries civil libertarians. However, the agency argues the protocols must be kept secret to protect national interests and the safety of individuals.

EPIC filed a FOIA request for the protocols in July 2012. The Department of Homeland Security originally said it could not find any records on the kill switch.

After EPIC appealed, the agency located the protocol, but redacted nearly all of the information. The agency cited exemptions that allow the withholding of information that could “disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions” or “could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.”

The court said Homeland Security wrongly claimed that it could withhold Standard Operating Procedure 303 as a “technique for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions.”

The court also found that interpreting a safety exemption to “encompass possible harm to anyone anywhere in the United States within the blast radius of a hypothetical unexploded bomb also flies in the face of repeated Supreme Court direction to read FOIA exemptions narrowly.”

While the court rejected the agency’s broad interpretation of FOIA exemptions, it left the door open for further appeals by Homeland Security. The agency has 30 days to release the protocols to EPIC, but the court issued a 30-day additional stay on its opinion to allow the agency time to appeal.

[ElevenBravo]

Gawd, I hope they dont flip the switch off... All my friends live on the enternets! :-)

EB

[David Armstrong]

This is one of htose things that sounds good, but fails when looked at closely. To shut down the internet in the U.S. you would have to shut down close to 8000 independent ISPs. In the U.S. because of deregulation we have such a patchwork that it is doubtful a kill switch is even possible. Other countries it is easy because the government has for all intents and purposes full control of the internet. Here t's a different ball game.

[TroubleShooter]

Wasnt there an article last year about all internet traffic was being rerouted due to a virus.....if they can reroute they can stop it.....Will search for link

[Sniper-T]

or they just mass dump their own virus to shut down the isps...

Just imagine the panick this would cause, millions of people not able to email their friends/family.

Would it be fair to surmise that the plan would be to trash cell service too? and there is the entire continent unable to communicate.

Pandemonium!

[David Armstrong]

Wasnt there an article last year about all internet traffic was being rerouted due to a virus.....if they can reroute they can stop it.....Will search for link

I'm working from my admittedly faulty memory, but IIRC that is the way the internet is supposed to work and why it is so hard to shut it down. The signals seek out a path. If one path is blocked it automatically reroutes to another path, and another. Theoretically as long as there is a single isp operating the internet can't be stopped. Maybe some of the more tech-savvy folks can help?

[Sniper-T]

have you ever tried to get on line when your own ISP was down for service? Pooched!

[TroubleShooter]

In the long run, I am sure our government and other entities have the ability make life as we know it.........Slow way down. All my plans involve being without outside support from any service , whether it be electric, water , sewer, food supply, internet or cell service.

Really does not take much to stop the world we live in...It is so big , but relies on a such a fragile system to function. You stop electric, you pretty much stop everything the masses have come to depend on. When it stops, the frenzy of the masses will destroy the rest of the infrastructure.

Think about the electric grid points, a blown transformer can put 50,000 in the dark in seconds....A simple rifle bullet can pop most transformers.........A single person roaming around at night with knowledge of the grid points, and a rifle can darken a region in a heartbeat, stopping the merry go around.....

150 men, with knowledge and a rifle can stop the USA infrastructure over night.........Sure some have back up power, only until the fuel runs out.

[bacpacker]

In that case cell and I.net service will be the least of your worries. Very valid point about how little it would take to shut down our society.

[David Armstrong]

have you ever tried to get on line when your own ISP was down for service? Pooched!

No, I just shift to another. It's a bit of a pain and I might have to resort to dial-up speeds, but that is about it. Yes, if all you have is an AOL account and don't know anything else if AOL goes away then you can be in trouble but I can access a half-dozen or so ISPs without much effort and that doesn't even require going back to the old ARPANET protocols.