Like many of you, I’ve been following the Egyptian uprising on The Drudge Report, Instapundit, and the major network websites like Fox News and CNN.  I’m totally in support of the populace to rise up and overthrow the existing government, if that’s what they so choose to do.  This is a basic American Ideal, laid out since the Declaration of Independence first offered up the words “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

What I find interesting though is not the political upheaval, but the response by the powers that be and its relation to current US policy.  Namely the idea that they tried to turn off the internet.

Yes, some American law makers have argued for an internet kill switch.  The calls for such a thing came right after the last Wikileaks episode.

Joe Lieberman (I), Susan Collins (R) and Tom Carper (D) have a bipartisan bill working it’s way through Congress to give the power to pull the plug on our internet and cell phones to the President.

“Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act” is the name.  The bill may be read here.

That’s why Egypt’s use of an internet stop button was interesting to me in the first place.  American politicians are trying to get the power to do the same thing here.  It’s obviously designed to prevent protesters from organizing, but don’t you think it’s at least somewhat likely that it will make the crowds even more angry?

Think about it:

Why would they feel the need to do such a thing?

That’s the real question…  Why do those three Congresspeople think we need to have our internet turned off?  What is it supposed to protect us from?

It’s not to protect us.  It’s to protect the powers-that-be…

And they apparently believe they’re going to need it sometime in the relatively near future…

Interesting, eh?

Assuming we’ve got rioting in the streets, like what we are seeing in Egypt, and they cut the internet off, are you really going to be sitting peacefully in your home, reading a book or playing board games with your kids?

Or will you be out in the street?

Personally, I think that you should be rioting in the streets when that happens.  If they turn off the internet, they’re doing it for the same reason they’d collect our firearms.  To pacify us and bring us to heel as quickly as possible.

If the government showing up to take away your guns is the signal that you need to pick up your weapons and start using them, then government turning off your ability to communicate with other citizens is a clear indication that you need to go find the large knot of people gathered in the streets and join them.

But that’s just my opinion.

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