It probably says something about me as a human being that I didn't have many issues with the Patriot Act, but the prospect of the government being able to seize control of "critical" networks during what remains an Ill-defined future "cyber-emergency" makes me nervous beyond belief. One of the first steps in any well-developed plan is to take control of or destroy enemy lines of communication. In the olden days that meant a would-be revolutionary needed to control the airwaves either by blocking transmissions, occupying the local TV and radio stations, or simply destroying them. In the 21st century, controlling communications basically means taking down the Internet and cellular capability.
Ponder it for a moment; no email, no cell phone, no VOIP, no SMS, no Blogger or Facebook. Now, how do you communicate beyond the people who happen to live next door? Yeah, I'm scratching my head on that one too. Now take into account the other everyday things you do online - like banking, ordering prescription refills from the pharmacy warehouse somewhere in Iowa, or looking at porn. How do you do those things in a world after a declared cyber-emergency?
Are you worried yet? You should be. Take away the Internet and all the other elements covered under the proposed cyber security bill and we're basically only seperated from 1957 by the lack of tailfins and chrome. In a world built on the rapid transfer of data from one place to another, steal the Internet and you're well on your way to launching your own revolution... Or at least keeping the masses uninformed until you've gone too far for them to do anything about it.
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