The Internet Must Remain Free
By Chuck Baldwin
June 29, 2010


This column is archived at
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=1822


The Internet is abuzz with news that a US Senate committee has approved a
bill that apparently gives the President authority to shut down the
Internet. According to TechWorld.com, "A US
Senate committee has approved a
wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give
the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a
cyberattack."

The report continues by saying, "The bill, introduced earlier this month
[by
Senators Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Thomas
Carper, D-Delaware], would establish a White House Office for Cyberspace
Policy and a National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications, which
would work with private US companies to create cybersecurity requirements
for the electric grid, telecommunications networks and other critical
infrastructure."

See the report at:

http://tinyurl.com/obama-can-kill-web1

A PrisonPlanet.com
report says this about the bill: "President Obama will be
handed the power to shut down the Internet for at least four months without
Congressional oversight if the Senate votes for the infamous Internet 'kill
switch' bill, which was approved by a key Senate committee yesterday [June
24] and now moves to the floor.

"The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, which is being pushed
hard by Senator Joe Lieberman,
would hand absolute power to the federal
government to close down networks, and block incoming Internet traffic from
certain countries under a declared national emergency.

"Despite the Center for Democracy and Technology and 23 other privacy and
technology organizations sending letters to Lieberman and other backers of
the bill expressing concerns that the legislation could be used to stifle
free speech, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
passed the bill in advance of a vote on the Senate floor."

The report continued by saying, "Fears that the legislation is aimed at
bringing the Internet under the regulatory power of the U.S. government in
an offensive against free speech were heightened further on Sunday, when
Lieberman revealed that the plan was to mimic [communist] China's policies
of policing the web with censorship and coercion.

"'Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in
case of war and we need to have that here too,' Lieberman told CNN's Candy
Crowley.

"While media and public attention is overwhelmingly focused on the BP oil
spill, the establishment is quietly preparing the framework that will allow
Obama, or indeed any President who follows him, to bring down a
technological iron curtain that will give the government a foot in the door
on seizing complete control over the Internet."

See the report at:

http://tinyurl.com/obama-can-kill-web2

Of course, pro-family groups have long lobbied Washington lawmakers to
pass
regulations restricting objectionable material on the Internet. But Senator
Lieberman's bill does more than restrict content on the Internet; it gives
the federal government the power to completely shut it down.

My friends, if you have any love for liberty left in your heart, one thing
is critical: the Internet must remain free--absolutely, totally unrestricted
and free.

I realize that many upstanding, well-intentioned people believe that the
federal government should restrict the content of the Internet. But
Lieberman's bill should provide ample warning for anyone who believes that
the federal government can be trusted with ANY authority it is granted
beyond that which is rightly ascribed to it via the US Constitution. Plus,
given the propensities of the federal government these days, how long before
the definition of "objectionable content" includes your freedom of speech
and mine? In plain language,
the federal government has no business
restricting anything that the Constitution does
not permit it to. If we cede
the authority to restrict and regulate the content of the Internet to the
federal government, we are also ceding to it the power to completely shut
down the Internet. And this is exactly what Lieberman's bill does.

The fact is, the Internet is the last bastion of free and unfiltered news
and information. And, yes, I understand that there is much misinformation on
the Internet. But that is the price of freedom. The individual must be given
the liberty to discern right from wrong for himself. As a Christian, I
believe this is why God provided the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
And I for one do not need the federal government to try and replace either.
And as far as objectionable material being available to children is
concerned, this is what parents are for! Good grief! It is bad enough that
the federal government has turned into Big Brother; are we going to allow it
to become Big Momma and Big
Daddy as well?

Ladies and gentlemen, it is essential that the free flow of information be
allowed to continue over the Internet. The major news media is a finely
filtered, tightly controlled medium that works harder at blocking news and
information than it does at delivering it. Virtually every major television
and radio network, along with the nation's major newspapers, is an equal
opportunity news-suppressor.

Just ask yourself, what would you have known regarding the MIAC report in
Missouri had it not been for the Internet? What would you have known about
the fiasco in Hardin, Montana, had it not been for the Internet? What would
you know about the NAFTA superhighway without the Internet? If not for the
Internet, would you ever have learned about the CFR's plans for a North
American Community? Where would the Tea Parties be today without the
Internet? Where would Ron Paul's campaign in 2008 have been without the
Internet? Virtually everything you've learned regarding the State
sovereignty momentum that continues to build across this country you've
learned from the Internet. Except for a few courageous independent radio
talk show hosts, and newspaper and magazine publishers, the vast majority of
extremely relevant and critical information relative to freedom is gleaned
from the Internet--not to mention the speed with which news and information
is able to travel, thanks to the Internet.

It is no hyperbole to suggest that the Internet is the modern patriots'
version of the colonists' Committees of Correspondence that sounded the
clarion call for liberty and independence at the time of America's founding.
And now, power-mad elitists in Washington, D.C., are attempting to provide
the federal government with the power and authority to shut it down at
will.

What is even more disturbing is the way that private companies and special
interest groups are willing to prostitute themselves before the federal
government in order to get their own "piece of the pie." Think of it: just
about every freedom-grabbing, Big-Government action taken by these modern
Machiavellians in Washington, D.C., is facilitated by willing CEOs from Big
Business. They gladly assist Big Brother when he wants to spy on us, read
our emails, listen to our phone calls, etc. They happily help Big Brother
when he wants to eavesdrop inside our homes, examine our financial records,
or snoop on our private lives. When Big Brother says, "Jump!" they ask,
"How
high?" Then--like these hypocrites in Washington, D.C.--they have the
audacity to wave the flag on Independence Day and shout, "America: the land
of the free!" As if they are blameless in freedom's demise.

Mark it down: if the federal government ever shuts down the Internet, it
will be business as usual for Washington, D.C., and its fellow travelers in
Big Business; but We the People will be out of business, and so will
freedom. Regardless of what side of any issue you and I may come from, it is
critical that the Internet remains absolutely and totally free..