Lieberman's Bill to "Pull the Plug" on the Internet

Those of us who were even minimally active in the antiwar movement know that it would not have been
possible without the internet. The internet made it possible for those of us who opposed the war to read articles by Robert Fisk, Robert Sheer, Eric Margolis,Jim Lobe and others--the type of journalists who are not usually syndicated in American newspapers but who provide an antidote to America's often slavishly pro-government press. The internet made it possible for antiwar activists to arrange demonstrations, petition drives, and letter-writing campaigns. We were not able to stop the war but Noam Chomsky has stated that the war was less brutal than it might have been because of the enormous opposition expressed even before the war began.

Because the internet is one of the few remaining avenues for the expression of dissent, activists must view with alarm the bill proposed by Joseph Lieberman, the independent senator from Connecticut, to give the government the power to shut down the internet during times of national emergency.  The rationale is, of course, terrorism. But, as Phil Giraldi stated in this article, terrorists rarely use the internet because it is so carefully monitored and terrorism flourished well before the internet existed. If the internet were to be shut down, terrorists would find other means of communication. Shutting down the internet would primarily hamper citizens opposing their government from communicating their opposition to government policies.