When Will America Wake Up?

Front Page News here today translated from http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/analys/wolfganghansson/article5737972.ab

President Obama will be able to close the Internet with one touch.
Sounds like a joke?
In the name of combating terrorism is everthing permitted. Behind the U.S. bill to "turn off" the Internet is a legitimate fear. Next time Al-Qaeda or other terrorist organizations strikes, it is perhaps not the skyscrapers, but the computer network that controls the U.S. electricity supply, banking, or anything that would create chaos in a modern society. Yet lies a dark cloud of big brother-wacthing-you over the bill which the government can force private companies to disclose any information with reference to the law.

"What happens after 2012, nobody knows"
Interestingly, the "attack" against the open network, this time coming from one of Obama's fellow party members and not from the neo-conservatives. Senator Jay Rockefeller - grandson of the famous oil magnate John D. Rockefeller - voted for the Iraq war, but very soon he turned to Bush and the war. The wording of the bill are very general in nature and would give the president broad powers to decide when a cyber emergency situation "exists. Although in practice it is more about turning off individual servers than the entire Internet. With a reasonable person in the White House, it is perhaps no danger. Right now, Obama seems to have no Dr. Strangelove-trends. It can be changed. What happens after 2012, nobody knows.

The will to defend their country is strong

Instead of Obama maybe it sits a Sarah Pallin in the White House. The will to defend their country with the means whatsoever is very strong in the U.S.. Just look at how George W. Bush acted after the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001. He allowed one million Americans to intercept phone calls and e-mail. Without the support of any law (Jay Rockefeller voted for the nolle prosequi of those involved in the illegal interception). Bush authorized torture as an interrogation method to get suspected terrorists to tell what they knew. Some of which subsequently turned out to be innocent.

"When Americans wake up?

With a vague cyberlag in the back increases the risk that a president might be tempted to take the methods of many perceived as a threat to the rule of law and democracy. The fact that there are both Democrats and Republicans who supports the bill increases the possibility that it will be adopted by the Senate. So far, most political commentators and civil rights organizations who reacted against the bill. The broad American public seems not even have a clue that it exists. Reminds a bit of resistance to the FRA law in Sweden until the eleventh hour run by a small "elite". When Americans wake up?