General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWill Trump shut down the internet when he loses?
Last edited Tue Oct 20, 2020, 10:22 PM - Edit history (5)
In my opinion, the lawsuit against Google is an attempt to break the dissemination of factual information in this country.
I can totally see him going all out when he loses, declaring an emergency on some pretext, and shutting down the U.S. web, China style.
His ranting is getting more violent daily, called CNN "dumb bastards", etc..
This is going to be a stressful 2 weeks, I'm afraid.
Here is a WSJ video discussing the subject.
'I have the right to do a lot of things that people dont even know about, Donald Trump told a reporter in a 2020 Oval Office exchange. One of those powers is his authority to shut down radio, television, both wireless and wired phone networks, and the internet.
An obscure provision tucked at the back of the Communications Act (Sec.706, codified as 47 USC 606) empowers the president to cause the closing of any station for radio communications (such as broadcasting or mobile phone networks) as well as cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communications (such as telephone and internet networks). All that is necessary for the exercise of these huge powers is a proclamation by the President of national emergency in the case of broadcast stations and mobile phones, or the interest of the national security for the internet or telephone networks. The statute also gives the president the power to suspend or amend FCC regulations.
Such authority makes one tremble when considered alongside Donald Trumps stated belief, When somebodys the President of the United States, the authority is total. His recent threat to social media platforms to close them down continues his efforts to use government authority to coerce and manipulate the media."
...................
"Our best defense is vigilance. As we head into the election of 2020, the House of Representatives should hold hearings to shine the spotlight on presidential powers people dont even know about, including Section 706. Of course, an informed and aware public is the first defense against authoritarian abuse. But also, if we have learned anything from COVID-19 it is the importance of anticipating problems and identifying solutions before they happen."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/06/25/could-donald-trump-claim-a-national-security-threat-to-shut-down-the-internet/amp/
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)nolabear
(41,991 posts)MissB
(15,812 posts)You gotta break the tubes.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)Please don't mention breaking tubes, I will not be able to sleep tonight....
MissB
(15,812 posts)When DH and I were first married, we had one of those really old tvs from the 60s. It required a tube. (We were married in the mid-90s).
The tv became a tv stand at some point.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)Such as vintage radios, televisions etc., even when non functional, can add to the "period" feel of a room!
Thank you!
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)But, once upon a time.
That is a huge computer
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)luvs2sing
(2,220 posts)Thank you so much!!!
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)During times like this, then I am glad for that, at least!
luvs2sing
(2,220 posts)The rest of it scares the shit out of me.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)Get out and vote.
Which is an act of courage, in my book.
luvs2sing
(2,220 posts)Now we wait..
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)I will be voting in person!
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)TwilightZone
(25,479 posts)Particularly the implementation issues. If you think Trump has an on/off switch for the internet, you might want to do some more research.
China, as your link indicates, shut down access to one region in China, not the entire internet.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)Not to worry.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)marie999
(3,334 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)China has completely shut down Internet service in the autonomous region of Xinjiang for almost a year after the July 2009 Ürümqi riots.[9][10][11]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_kill_switch#:~:text=There%20is%20no%20law%20that,ISP%20without%20a%20court%20order.&text=There%20is%20also%20the%20need,%2C%20Amnesty%20International%2C%20and%20others.
Forgive me for not sharing in the mirth.
marie999
(3,334 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)If Trump is not removed from office.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)At least, mocking from those who realize internet infrastructure in the west is lateral rather than vertical.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)I have the right to do a lot of things that people dont even know about, Donald Trump told a reporter in a 2020 Oval Office exchange. One of those powers is his authority to shut down radio, television, both wireless and wired phone networks, and the internet.
An obscure provision tucked at the back of the Communications Act (Sec.706, codified as 47 USC 606) empowers the president to cause the closing of any station for radio communications (such as broadcasting or mobile phone networks) as well as cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communications (such as telephone and internet networks). All that is necessary for the exercise of these huge powers is a proclamation by the President of national emergency in the case of broadcast stations and mobile phones, or the interest of the national security for the internet or telephone networks. The statute also gives the president the power to suspend or amend FCC regulations.
Such authority makes one tremble when considered alongside Donald Trumps stated belief, When somebodys the President of the United States, the authority is total. His recent threat to social media platforms to close them down continues his efforts to use government authority to coerce and manipulate the media."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/06/25/could-donald-trump-claim-a-national-security-threat-to-shut-down-the-internet/amp/
Mock away.
treestar
(82,383 posts)China - the government may be in command of it.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)" I have the right to do a lot of things that people dont even know about, Donald Trump told a reporter in a 2020 Oval Office exchange. One of those powers is his authority to shut down radio, television, both wireless and wired phone networks, and the internet.
An obscure provision tucked at the back of the Communications Act (Sec.706, codified as 47 USC 606) empowers the president to cause the closing of any station for radio communications (such as broadcasting or mobile phone networks) as well as cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communications (such as telephone and internet networks). All that is necessary for the exercise of these huge powers is a proclamation by the President of national emergency in the case of broadcast stations and mobile phones, or the interest of the national security for the internet or telephone networks. The statute also gives the president the power to suspend or amend FCC regulations.
Such authority makes one tremble when considered alongside Donald Trumps stated belief, When somebodys the President of the United States, the authority is total. His recent threat to social media platforms to close them down continues his efforts to use government authority to coerce and manipulate the media."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/06/25/could-donald-trump-claim-a-national-security-threat-to-shut-down-the-internet/amp/
malaise
(269,157 posts)splat
(2,294 posts)The Internet has no center. He can't affect it at all. Information wants to be free, tee-hee.
But China did do it.
I hope it doesn't happen, or anything like it.
But in my opinion, we are dealing with a Russian asset who has everything to lose.
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)No Republican with half a brain would further their political suicide by backing anything Trump tried to do.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)That is correct
we can do it
(12,193 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)bearsfootball516
(6,377 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)I am not saying, nor do I know, if such apparatus exists in the U S.
My guess is it does, for the purpose of minimizing damage in the event of a massive cyberattack by a foreign power, or non state actors.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_kill_switch#:~:text=There%20is%20no%20law%20that,ISP%20without%20a%20court%20order.&text=There%20is%20also%20the%20need,%2C%20Amnesty%20International%2C%20and%20others.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Even Trump makes a cameo
😅
This is from the Wall Street Journal
What a bunch of kidders!
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)As there is no singular kill-switch to do this in the US, and as it would require an amalgam of corporate decisions predicated on an unprofitable order from a lame-duck president with zero leverage and even less political capital, your hypothesis then begs the following question:
Precisely how would Trump accomplish this feat of engineering, what specific companies would he force to do so, and what leverage does he have to coerce them into doing so?
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Hey... I get it. In middle school I was convinced nuclear war would turn us into elves, dwarves and orcs. But then I began to pay attention in my science courses.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)To D.U.?
What do you think the purpose of that was?
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Do you have any objective experience in engineering? Any relevant knowledge? It seems you're simply throwing stuff at the wall and hoping it sticks as we both observe it sliding down and leaving a mess.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)I have the right to do a lot of things that people dont even know about, Donald Trump told a reporter in a 2020 Oval Office exchange. One of those powers is his authority to shut down radio, television, both wireless and wired phone networks, and the internet.
An obscure provision tucked at the back of the Communications Act (Sec.706, codified as 47 USC 606) empowers the president to cause the closing of any station for radio communications (such as broadcasting or mobile phone networks) as well as cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communications (such as telephone and internet networks). All that is necessary for the exercise of these huge powers is a proclamation by the President of national emergency in the case of broadcast stations and mobile phones, or the interest of the national security for the internet or telephone networks. The statute also gives the president the power to suspend or amend FCC regulations.
Such authority makes one tremble when considered alongside Donald Trumps stated belief, When somebodys the President of the United States, the authority is total. His recent threat to social media platforms to close them down continues his efforts to use government authority to coerce and manipulate the media."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/06/25/could-donald-trump-claim-a-national-security-threat-to-shut-down-the-internet/amp/
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)He's a lame duck and has no juice to bully these acts through without the specific and relevant conditions existing-- which cannot happen without the capital he DOES NOT have anymore. There is no singular kill switch: delete that fallacy from your brain, it seems a foundation on which you're predicating your entire argument on, and it doesn't even exist in the west.
As a lame duck, he can order it done, but as a lame duck, it simply won't happen. He's out of political leverage... that seems to elude you. Dramatically.
You're creating a problem in your own mind, and frenetically defending its potential against the evidence of objective engineering and infrastructure, relevant political capital, and the pretense that the GOP will remain at his beck and call on Wed 4th when reality tells us as soon as Nov 3rd passes, so does any juice trump has.
But I thank God you're finally attempting to support your argument (with editorial of not actual evidence...) what you should have done in the first place-- as dictated by rational thought.
But we'll see you here on DU on Nov. 4th. and you can conveniently forget you ever prophesized this fiction.
Enjoy... or worry about orcs. Your choice.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)From Wikipedia -
"Brookings states that its staff "represent diverse points of view" and describes itself as non-partisan,[16] and various media outlets have alternately described Brookings as centrist[17] or liberal.[18] An academic analysis of Congressional records from 1993 to 2002 found that Brookings was referred to by conservative politicians almost as frequently as liberal politicians, earning a score of 53 on a 1100 scale with 100 representing the most liberal score.[19] The same study found Brookings to be the most frequently cited think tank by the U.S. media and politicians.[19]"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings_Institution
And the article cites the exact act that would enable Trump to do this.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)'An obscure provision tucked at the back of the Communications Act (Sec.706, codified as 47 USC 606) empowers the president to cause the closing of any station for radio communications (such as broadcasting or mobile phone networks) as well as cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communications (such as telephone and internet networks). All that is necessary for the exercise of these huge powers is a proclamation by the President of national emergency in the case of broadcast stations and mobile phones, or the interest of the national security for the internet or telephone networks. The statute also gives the president the power to suspend or amend FCC regulations."
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)That I pray to God you are right.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)Hekate
(90,793 posts)orangecrush
(19,617 posts)Hopefully we will both be on here celebrating this time.
Hekate
(90,793 posts)And yes, hopefully we will all be here with Pepe the Frog nowhere in sight.
orangecrush
(19,617 posts)It was Russia.
onenote
(42,759 posts)If Trump "shuts down the Internet" he won't have any way of communicating with his supporters.