An Appeals Court in Washington, DC has ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may withhold from the public a secret procedure for shutting down cell phone service.
Ironically a committee called the 'President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee'(NSTAC) claims their should be a single governmental process to impede phone & internet service.
Can anyone guess what branch of govt controls the NSTAC? If you guessed DHS you get a gold star.
Below is an excerpt from the DHS website:
"Meeting our Nation’s critical national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) challenges demands attention to many issues. Among these, none could be more important than the availability and reliability of telecommunication services."
DHS would have you believe they will ... "preserve the public trust in the integrity of our communications services" during an emergency by giving them the exclusive power to turn it off!
The only thing the public was told is that its called SOP 303, what those procedures are and when they can be used, the public doesn't have a right to know!
“The Department (DHS) appeals, invoking FOIA Exemption 7(F) on the ground that production of SOP 303 could reasonably be expected to endanger many individuals’ lives or physical safety. Upon de novo review, we hold that the plain text of Exemption 7(F) protects law enforcement records the disclosure of which “could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual,” 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(F), during a critical emergency, without requiring the withholding agency to specifically identify the individuals who would be endangered, and that much if not all of SOP 303 is exempt from disclosure.”
SOP 303 “provides detailed procedures for the [NCC] to coordinate requests for the disruption of cellular service,” certain subsection headings, and the title of Appendix E (“External Agency Cellular Service Disruption Implementation Instructions”)
So there it is, that's all you're allowed to know. If DHS told the public anymore it “could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual."
Laughably DHS claims "bad actors"could shutdown or reactivate the wireless network by impersonating officials. Who they are and what do they look like? You're not allowed to know. Just know that's the B.S. reason the public is being spoon fed.
EPIC pursued the DHS policy after government officials in San Francisco disabled cell phone serviceduring a peaceful protest in 2011.
EPIC sued DHS when the agency failed to release the criteria for network shutdowns. A federal judge ruled in EPIC's favor. On appeal, the D.C. Circuit held for the DHS but said that the agency might still be required to disclose some portions of the protocol.
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