Egypt Internet Shutdown Should Serve As Warning To Americans

James McKibbin
The Publius Foundation

Last month we saw Egyptians of all political leanings rise up for a single purpose: the overthrow of dictator Hosni Mubarak. There was much bloodshed and violence, usually instigated by pro-government groups or the police. Mubarak was well-entrenched and exercised all means of power in order to quell dissent and rebellion. One of his tactics, shutting down the majority of internet access and telecommunications in Egypt, received widespread international condemnation.

The Internet provided the means through which protestors were able to organize and share information amongst themselves. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook were the main vehicles for individual citizens to mobilize against government tyranny. Who knows whether this revolt would have been possible or succeeded without the technology of the Internet?

Among those critical of Mubarak’s heavy-handed approach was the United States. However, any call for democracy or the rights of the people out of the US government carries the bitter taste of hypocrisy these days. Politicians here are constantly pushing for more government regulation and power including over the Internet.

Introduced last summer by Senator Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act would give the President of the United States similar draconian powers to those President Mubarak utilized. The bill would give the Department of Homeland Security the ability to create a list of systems or assets that constitute critical cyber-infrastructure. The President would in times of emergency be able to control those systems including having the ability to turn them off — a ‘kill switch’ as it has been dubbed.

Additionally, the bill specifically prevents any judicial review of what the president and DHS consider critical infrastructure. What defines “cyber-emergency” is also left vague.

Senator Lieberman among others has been a staunch advocate of the surveillance national security state. In an interview on CNN last year regarding the proposed legislation, he stated that “Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its internet in a case of war. We need to have that here too.”

It is true that China has that power. They frequently use it to stifle dissent on their heavily filtered internet in politically sensitive times, not just in a case of war. It is disconcerting to see a member of the US Senate advocating becoming more like China’s authoritarian government.

China has also started requiring its citizens to log in to news sites using their real identities. Such a move is designed to chill free speech and track opposition.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Obama White House has started pushing for “internet IDs” to be implemented through the Commerce Department. “Possible methods of creating a ‘trusted identity’ could include issuing a ‘smart card’ or digital certificates that would prove that online users are who they say they are.” All of an individual’s internet activity could end up being attached specifically to their ID. The Commerce Department was quick to assuage fears of a Big Brother system, but how can the American people believe what they say when taking into account past grievances?

Just over five years ago the Bush era warrantless wiretapping scandal was just the beginning. Soon after, AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) receives all Internet traffic including emails, searches, etc from even domestic traffic. This scandal came to involve virtually all major Internet and telecommunications companies. Congress granted retroactive immunity to these companies in 2008.

In March 2009, the director of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity Center, Rod Beckström, resigned alleging that the NSA “effectively controls DHS cyber efforts….” He was sharply critical of this power grab and refused to be a part of it.

The DHS recently began exercising its self-proclaimed authority by seizing dozens of domains it accused of copyright violations. One site, a search engine named Torrent-Finder.com, “neither hosted copyrighted material nor directly linked to places where it could be found. Instead, the site opened new windows to sites that did link to file-sharing materials.” Another site, RapGodfathers.com, complied with copyright laws, but its users had posted links to sites that did not.

Website owners had no prior warning to the seizure and many never received a complaint. The seized domains display a message from DHS.

It is clear that the national security apparatus is increasingly being pointed at the American people. Total internet surveillance along with such things as internet IDs and government control over the infrastructure make for a frightening combination. Factor in the continual power grab being made by the DHS through the TSA and America is looking more like Orwell’s 1984 than a free country. Let us learn from Egypt and prevent that future from manifesting.