Who owns your computer?

[alpha]

Let me clarify the jist of this bill. It would give the president authority to "pull the plug" on any private network (ISP) that he deemed necessary if he declared it a cybersecurity emergency. This raises many, many questions in my mind.

For example, assuming this bill passed and what if you decided to have a blog that is critical of the government. It would be simple for anyone to determine who the ISP hosting that information is, right? If the government then told the hosting ISP to shut it down because it is a cybersecurity threat, they would have to shut it down or have their "plug pulled", right?

Isn't this what happened in Iran when they had their election riots? Didn't the government shut down the ability of the protesters to send out messages.

Call me cynical, but I think our government has forgotton that they work for the people and not the other way around.

[Alex Franke]

I'm biting my tongue and wondering how many of the posts on this thread can possibly be considered to be "steering away from topics on politics."

But since nobody has answered alpha's original question, I'll give it a shot: I own my computer because I bought my computer.

Much of the other stuff (government this, Obama that), except for maybe a few interesting facts about radio, to me, seem likely to elicit responses that are more and more politically motivated. And that's disappointing.

Why not keep any specific government or legislation out of the discussion and maybe focus on a more academic question that could apply to any government (under any administration)? That would be interesting. This is not.

That's my US$0.02.

[Black wallnut]

I'm biting my tongue and wondering how many of the posts on this thread can possibly be considered to be "steering away from topics on politics."

snip

This seems to be a more common occurrence these days. I do not know what is so hard for some to steer clear of these subjects. News stories about a politicians agenda are inherently political. To my eye it matters not if the topic at hand is from the point of view expressed by my side of the isle. I leave my politics at the login page as our good host has requested. Please do likewise. Simply put political topics are not welcome here per the site owner's request. Thanks for abiding to this rule.