Does Obama’s Internet “kill switch” threaten free speech?
Could an Internet “kill switch” proposed by US Senator Joseph Lieberman be exploited to assume Federal control over the Internet and threaten free speech? Well, Sophos security expert Carole Theriault believes the pending legislation emits a definite “whiff” of certain elements attempting to extert control over the Internet. “Do we have a right to be annoyed and panicked by a new bill? I haven’t read all the bits and pieces…but I dipped my toe in the bill’s waters and superficially, it makes sense. But, there is a whiff of trying to control the Internet – [which] is not under any central governance,” opined Theriault. “It is inherently resilient, thanks to greater geographical spread, clustering of servers and mirroring of information. This global virtual community is the closest thing we have to the concept of world peace and I guess what I don’t like is US legislators using fear and doubt to convince the public this is all a great idea.” According to Theriault, the very term “kill
