Self-examination time. Nightmare Scenario #1

[shadowknows69]

You wake up one morning and go to check email and the latest postings on DU. Strangely no internet access at all. Whether you get the info from tech support or go to the MSM to find out the day's news, you eventually learn that the President has issued an executive order and the CIA emplyed technology to cut off all internet access to every citizen of the US, except certain government and corporate offices deemed to be secure enough, because of an imminent terror warning about Al-Qaida hackers. This ban is until further notice. What would you think? I think we all agree that if something truly sinister starts to go down in this country it won't happen until "they" control the information flow to the best of their considerable ability. Have any of us obtained enough phone #'s, addresses and true friendships with like minded people so we don't completely lose contact? Our only strength will be numbers.

[HeeBGBz]

1. No

I would be lost.

[HereSince1628]

2. They ARE in control already.

The only reason "they" would need to sieze control of private communications would be if we HAD obtained enough phone #'s, addresses, and true friendships and were DOING something with them.

[shadowknows69]

3. then it shouldn't be too long

because they probably figure we've been doing that already.

[HereSince1628]

4. I am sure there is surveillance.

But the kulaks really have no fear of us.

[theycanbiteme]

5. Its extremely possible...

Seriously, most people believe that the Internet can not be "shut down".
Its quite obvious that people have never worked in a NOC.

There was an article in Europe not too long ago, that talked about how
Europeans were being blocked from visiting the White House's website.
Its VERY doable. You can block just about ANY request.

My scenario:
another terrorist "event" occurs...
Patriot Acts I and II go into effect, i.e., Martial Law...
BOTH Internet and cable TV access are disabled except "official"
news channels and/or websites...

You citizen, are now at their mercy.

It WILL happen sooner than anybody dares think.

On edit: minor type-o

[foo_bar]

9. I've worked in a couple NOCs

Blocking people from a website has nothing to do with "shutting down" the net. DU could be unplugged with a court-ordered pair of scissors, but actually shutting down the Internet requires going door-to-door to every node on the planet.

It might seem academic after your door is kicked in, but the Internet itself will chug along (with new DUs and old copies of DU cache, to use the example). If all the ISPs in the US were shut down overnight at a cost of billions/day in forsaken revenue, cybercafes in Sau Paulo would continue unhampered, albeit with fewer websites to visit.

[theycanbiteme]

12. Yes, the Internet will chug along....

outside of our digital borders. We won't be able to receive any
OUTSIDE information. You know that this can be done. China is doing
this right now.
Whether or not sys ads will "rebel" and permit the free flow of information remains to be seen.

[foo_bar]

19. even China is failing in that aspect

They can't lock up the engine of their economic progress, so they make examples of a few and hope for the best:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/12/05/business/ynet.html

The evidence points to the government not giving up on surveillance and filtering," Zittrain said. "Indeed, they are refining the techniques for each."

But so, too, will cyberdissidents refine their efforts to do and say what they want on the Internet, experts say.

"On the censorship topic, best to think of it as a cat-and-mouse game," Clark of BDA China said. "There will never be an absolute winner or loser."

The kind of cultural and economic flourishing that the Internet has already wrought in China is irreversible, he added.

"China's rapidly emerging middle classes, numbering tens if not hundreds of millions, are dependent on the Internet and the Internet is dependent on them," he said. "There's no putting the genie back in the bottle now, and no real attempt to do so."

[Swamp Rat]

17. Certo cara!

And and some folks would be in Brasil setting up a DU mirror. :)

[tx_dem41]

6. Well, if they did it, the economy would CRASH in a single day...

...and the Administration would either have to "turn it back on" or face immediate impeachment.

[DS1]

7. yup

[davsand]

8. I doubt they'd be impeached.

I have given up all hope of any organized resistance in the US after watching all that has been allowed to slide for the last six years. Frankly, I don't think the American people (as a whole) could muster any energy for much of anything except maybe another celebrity trial or a new reality TV show.

I think it would be far more likely that any attempt to shut down the INTERNET, impose long term martial law, or close the borders would probably be met with passive acceptance and lot of monkey wrenching.

You'd see power grids that went down when somebody threw the wrong switch. You might see databases of credit card files that vanish when somebody goes "Ooops!" Stock and trade files will get messed up, along with financial databases and credit collections databases. Those are all things that pissed off workers might do--but probably not as part of any organized group.

Laura

[tx_dem41]

10. Believe me, when my company (owned by Republicans) couldn't

..get any work done, they would be demanding impeachment by noon. Remember its not just the workers that get screwed in such a scenario proposed in the OP.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[theycanbiteme]

14. Everything on the Internet can be and IS monitored....

don't kid yourself.
IPs are logged...not only at DU, but at their web server hosting site...
your ISP, etc. Your tracks can be known...its actually very simple to
do.

[tx_dem41]

15. For one thing...who says we are unarmed? n/t

[Swamp Rat]

18. Welcome to DU!

[theycanbiteme]

13. Like it has much left in it anyways...right?

[tx_dem41]

16. Ummm....the economy is far from the scenario ....

...of being in a total meltdown tomorrow.

[SOteric]

20. The problem with such a plan is that

they cannot lock down the extant internet; and as long as there is a bored or enterprising teenager in NorthAmerica with a rolled up bit of tinfoil and an old Atari 800 from Dad's boxes in the basement, there can be internet access.