The Coming Internet Crackdown

By Igorderysh

With so much information being exchanged over the web, the government has been cracking down as much as they can on what Americans can and can’t do on the internet. A new bill by West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller seeks to let the government completely crackdown and takeover the internet in case of an “emergency.”

The 55-page bill, which is being re-written for the umpteenth time would give the White House the ability to takeover the networks on which the internet runs. The opponents of the bill, most of whom are civil liberties and privacy groups, are mostly worried by the vagueness of the bill and for good reason. Just consider how the vagueness of the USA PATRIOT Act has been utilized by the government.

Like the Patriot Act, which allowed law enforcement to monitor and create a database of people’s internet activity, this bill is the latest attempt by the government to control a medium which runs on freedom.

Online gambling has been a pet-project of many within the government with bills having already passed that have banned online poker and many forms of online gambling.

Though there are efforts to lift the ban on online poker, the result will undoubtedly be a watered down version of online poker regulated by the government.

The government is also intending to go after filesharing after lawsuits by the RIAA have failed. Some members of Congress are pushing to mandate what some internet service providers are doing already: cutting off the service for anyone who downloads files.

As one can see, the government has made repeated attempts to go after our rights on the web just as they have in the real world. If nothing else, our internet freedom is what differentiates us from countries like Iran and China. Contact your member of Congress. Sign an ACLU petition. Protect your rights before the internet gets “Bushified.”

Follow the author, Igor Derysh, on Twitter @igorderysh