While the U.S. Federal Communications Commission once again takes up the debate over ‘net neutrality’, there’s a potentially much bigger story making the rounds. While ‘net neutrality’ is a debate over whether internet providers have the right to ‘throttle’ or block certain content, the U.S. Congress is rushing through a bill that would grant the President the ability to pretty much shut the internet down for up to 30 days. While ostensibly aimed at limiting the potential impact of foreign cyber-attacks, the broad wording of the bill (and the tendency of presidents to use powers as they see fit) has some civil libertarians worried that the bill would lead to shutting down of speech and/or services that the government simply doesn’t agree with. Nightmare scenario for online gamblers? Three words: President Jon Kyl. Read more.
U.S. president to be given internet ‘kill switch’ powers?
