Liberman wants the US to have an Internet 'kill' switch...

[General Mung Beans]

No, you're not missing anything. You just hit the nail right on the head.

Lieberman doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about.

That or, at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy nut, the main purpose of this is not to protect against an attack, but to expand the government's ability to censor/control the media.

In any case, Lieberman is scum. Utter, disgusting scum. I think I'll write Obama a letter right now demanding that if this bill is passed, or anything similar, he automatically vetoes it.

Anyone more knowledgeable about the US Congress care to speculate on how likely this abomination is to pass?

Unlikely, neither the liberal Democrats nor the conservative Republicans (for fear of increased government control) are going to support it.

[Srelex]

Republican fear of 'increased government control' didn't stop the PATRIOT act. That said, I'm pretty sure that even if Congress has two brain cells combined this won't pass.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yes, Republicans generally only fear Government control of economy health care, education, etc. They typically love government control of religion, media, security, defense, etc. Shit like this sounds right up there alley.

[Einzige]

No, you're not missing anything. You just hit the nail right on the head.

Lieberman doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about.

That or, at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy nut, the main purpose of this is not to protect against an attack, but to expand the government's ability to censor/control the media.

In any case, Lieberman is scum. Utter, disgusting scum. I think I'll write Obama a letter right now demanding that if this bill is passed, or anything similar, he automatically vetoes it.

Anyone more knowledgeable about the US Congress care to speculate on how likely this abomination is to pass?

Unlikely, neither the liberal Democrats nor the conservative Republicans (for fear of increased government control) are going to support it.

No, it's the libertarians who will oppose this tooth and nail, and rightfully so. The conservatives will go along with it to shoot off their hard-on for authoritarianism.

[Temujin]

The GOP is rife with hypocrisy in practically all regards.

First off, the only thing conservative about them is their socially regressive outlook and policies.

When it comes to big government, they selectively want to slash only those programs they conveniently disagree with, especially if they are socially progressive in any way.

As for the libertarian elements, they have too often gone along with the rest of the GOP, so I consider the bulk of those so-called libertarians (I call them Randroids among other things) hypocrites as well. However, it may be that the bulk of them are just tribalistic dumb asses who don't understand the first thing about the ideology they've thrown their weight behind.

[Lancer]

Am I the only one who read this article and though of this Penny Arcade strip?

[The Romulan Republic]

As for the libertarian elements, they have too often gone along with the rest of the GOP, so I consider the bulk of those so-called libertarians (I call them Randroids among other things) hypocrites as well.

That's a bit misleading, I think. Not all Right-wing Libertarians share Ayn Rand's particular views by any means. The impression I've gotten from talking to and reading books by Libertarians is that she's a radical even among libertarians, and certainly doesn't speak for all of them. For example, some libertarians will be against taxes and public social programs, but applaud wealthy individuals being charitable. They may be naive if they think that's always going to cut it, true, but that's very different from Ayn Rand's views, which I gather (from second-and-third-hand sources, as I've never actually read any of her works) promote selfishness.

Now, maybe I've been misinformed, but I thought I should point out that distinction.

However, it may be that the bulk of them are just tribalistic dumb asses who don't understand the first thing about the ideology they've thrown their weight behind.

Tribalism is likely one significant factor. Bullshit propaganda about how Democrats are genuine Marxists trying to destroy America (fuck you GOP) is part of it too. And there are no doubt other factors as well.

[Temujin]

As for the libertarian elements, they have too often gone along with the rest of the GOP, so I consider the bulk of those so-called libertarians (I call them Randroids among other things) hypocrites as well.

That's a bit misleading, I think. Not all Right-wing Libertarians share Ayn Rand's particular views by any means. The impression I've gotten from talking to and reading books by Libertarians is that she's a radical even among libertarians, and certainly doesn't speak for all of them. For example, some libertarians will be against taxes and public social programs, but applaud wealthy individuals being charitable. They may be naive if they think that's always going to cut it, true, but that's very different from Ayn Rand's views, which I gather (from second-and-third-hand sources, as I've never actually read any of her works) promote selfishness.

Now, maybe I've been misinformed, but I thought I should point out that distinction.

I think more sensible libertarians tend to fall into the so-called independent / mindless middle category. The ones who consistently support the GOP are the ones I'm talking about.

However, it may be that the bulk of them are just tribalistic dumb asses who don't understand the first thing about the ideology they've thrown their weight behind.

Tribalism is likely one significant factor. Bullshit propaganda about how Democrats are genuine Marxists trying to destroy America (fuck you GOP) is part of it too. And there are no doubt other factors as well.

Tribalism definitely plays a part, and is also one of the reasons they so readily eat up the propaganda shit that the right feeds them.

[adam_grif]

"Cyber 9/11"? WTF is that supposed to mean, the terrorists are going to remotely explode our HDDs?

Haven't you ever seen Die Hard 4? They're going to make oil pipelines explode via the internet, and hack F-35's into shooting at shit!

[General Mung Beans]

Yes, Republicans generally only fear Government control of economy health care, education, etc. They typically love government control of religion, media, security, defense, etc. Shit like this sounds right up there alley.

Of course it may be that since some of them automatically oppose, criticise, attack anything proposed by Obama or a Democrat/Democrat-leaning Independent they will oppose this.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yes, Republicans generally only fear Government control of economy health care, education, etc. They typically love government control of religion, media, security, defense, etc. Shit like this sounds right up there alley.

Of course it may be that since some of them automatically oppose, criticise, attack anything proposed by Obama or a Democrat/Democrat-leaning Independent they will oppose this.

How Democrat-leaning is Leiberman at this point? He helped block health care reform and he always seems to go Right on foreign policy and security issues.

[fgalkin]

He's very much a Republican now, and is pretty much persona non grata in party leadership circles since he endorsed McCain for President. However, he's still a Democrat, and that's enough for some to oppose it.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Master of Ossus]

What's his theory behind this? If Al Gore inveteth, Joe Lieberman can taketh away?

Also, is this even physically possible? I mean, the US could probably take it down for a few days or weeks, but it would be back up. It's not like he's just talking about banning YouTube and Facebook, or similar.

[folti78]

"Unfortunately, too much of the core of the internet resides in the US - let's put it this way, they cannot shut down machines in Australia, but they can completely isolate us and shut down certain core functions like the DNS ... they can render the internet fairly useless for the rest of the world," he said.

Isn't one of the root DNS servers located inside Australia (Sydney IIRC)?

That and the alternative DNS root providers, most of whose servers are not located in the US, could be asked by the ISP's to act as backups for the ICANN root DNS servers. Also thanks to the caching DNS servers used by almost everyone from ISP down to SOHO routers, shutting down the root servers is not an immediate killswitch. Already established TCP connections still work fine too.

Appart from a few minor cases (New Zealands main fibre link goes through the US for instance) I don't see how the US could 'shut down' the internet withou the rest of the world implementing measures to route around it. Certainly talk of being able to do so would encourage the creation of emergency plans to implement if that situation ever arose.

Physical closing of the datalinks to other countries (or if they go real crazy inside the US), will do the trick (for the first time), but the economical loss would be without precedent, with the loss of US control of the Internet outside of US. Like ISP's building alternative datalinks to each other and starting to use alternative providers. Something like the internet version of the Blue Stream/South Stream/Nord Stream to the Ukraine/Belarus blocking of gas supplies to Europe.

[General Mung Beans]

Yes, Republicans generally only fear Government control of economy health care, education, etc. They typically love government control of religion, media, security, defense, etc. Shit like this sounds right up there alley.

Of course it may be that since some of them automatically oppose, criticise, attack anything proposed by Obama or a Democrat/Democrat-leaning Independent they will oppose this.

How Democrat-leaning is Leiberman at this point? He helped block health care reform and he always seems to go Right on foreign policy and security issues.

He did vote for the health care bill the President signed into law.

[Flagg]

He did vote for the health care bill the President signed into law.

After filibustering out both the Public Option and the lowering of the medicare age to 55. Lieberman is basically a center-right leaning cunt who only caucuses with the Democrats to keep his chairmanship. I can guarantee you that if the Republicans managed to miraculously win back the Senate that cunt would caucus with them. Guy is a fucking shitheel.

[Teebs]

Is there any actual benefit for the Democrats in having Lierbermann caucus with them? If he just doesn't give a fuck then surely there's no advantage for them and they're giving up an important chairmanship in return.

[Master of Ossus]

Is there any actual benefit for the Democrats in having Lierbermann caucus with them? If he just doesn't give a fuck then surely there's no advantage for them and they're giving up an important chairmanship in return.

There's a big advantage because it increases their numbers in the Senate, which can matter for things like committee chairmanships.

[Elfdart]

Probably has more to do with Lieberman just not knowing what the fuck the internet is. Most of these fellows seem rather isolated and pampered. He probably has an aide shop at Walmart for him, while another surfs the net when he needs something from it.

He knows what it is: It's the means by which those Dirty Fucking Hippies supported Ned Lamont in the primaries back in 2006, beating Lieberman and forcing him to run as an independent. Lieberman faces re-election in 2012 and is worried the DFHs want a rematch.

[Flagg]

Probably has more to do with Lieberman just not knowing what the fuck the internet is. Most of these fellows seem rather isolated and pampered. He probably has an aide shop at Walmart for him, while another surfs the net when he needs something from it.

He knows what it is: It's the means by which those Dirty Fucking Hippies supported Ned Lamont in the primaries back in 2006, beating Lieberman and forcing him to run as an independent. Lieberman faces re-election in 2012 and is worried the DFHs want a rematch.

Considering the fact that he's acted like a Republican a good chunk of the time, there's a halfway decent chance his little independent run will fall flat on its face. Hell, I'd rather see the Democrats lose that seat to the Republicans than see that slimy cocksucking rat back in office.

[Temujin]

Yeah, better a one term Republican than continuing to have Droopy Dog raise his leg and piss on his former fellow Democrats. Then perhaps we could get a real progressive Democrat in there. Too bad he won reelection.