As a video game blogger, I usually stay far away from politics in what I write. However, this one issue is too relevant to ignore: Senators are proposing to give the president a kill-switch for the internet.
Effectively, what this would do is that, in the case of national security being compromised by an attack (which, to their credit, is a legitimate concern), the president could flip a switch (or in the collective internet's imagination, push a giant red button) and shut down most of the internet, including government, business, and even video game servers in the process.
The first nagging issue about this is "Wait, they're shutting down servers that we pay monthly to be able to use! Will we get our money back?" In fact, the answer to this question is no. Part of the bill states on page 87 line 16 that
"the covered entity shall not be liable for any punitive damages intended to punish or deter, exemplary damages, or other damages not intended to compensate a plaintiff for actual losses;"
Basically, what this means is that not only are you not guaranteed your money back, the companies can do whatever they want with your money after the president hits the switch. There is a bright side though:
"noneconomic damages may be awarded against a defendant only in an amount directly proportional to the percentage of responsibility of such defendant for the harm to the plaintiff, and no plaintiff may recover noneconomic damages unless the plaintiff suffered physical harm."
Which translates roughly into saying that no, the CEOs of service providing companies are not allowed to rape you after the president hits the switch.
However, there are more issues with this bill: Instead of making us safer, it actually endangers us even more. With this bill, all a terrorist has to do to shut down our internet is to hack into some minor priority government website, scare the hell out of the president, and BOOM, bye-bye internet. Sure, he won't be able to access important information and such, but HE JUST SHUT DOWN THE INTERNET! That in itself will cause irreparable psychological and economic damage to the country (not to mention the fact that nobody will have a clue what is going on, leaving the country exposed to more conventional, physical, forms of attack). In an analogy, in a scenario where you cut your hand on something dirty, instead of the government applying anti-septic to your hand to kill the infection, it decides to turn your brain off. Yes, the infection won't spread, but neither will you!
- This man may become sole controller of our internet, yet he has admitted that he has no idea what the difference is between an iPad and an Xbox
Finally, this kill switch is in the hands of the president. Last time I checked, there was no pre-requisite for candidacy that involved tech-smarts. Which means that the technological lifeline of the entire country is in the hands of someone who may or may not know a single thing about what is at stake. This sort of switch should be subject to a panel of five sys-admins, not one guy who's only real clear strength is the ability to make good speeches.
