Obama's 'kill switch' has been approved.

US Senate committee has approved the new 'kill switch' bill to help prevent cyber terrorism. This bill means that at any time Obama can ask internet providers to shut down the internet at any given time and up to a period of 120 days. After this period, under an amendment in the legislation, it must be approved by the committee for extension. Within this bill, the internet is being described as an American 'national asset'. This has been deeply criticized by many academics.

This 'kill switch' was proposed on the 19th of June 2010 and was approved on the 25th of June. This bill seems to have been put through very quickly with only 6 days in-between being proposed and being approved. Perhaps too avoid as much scrutiny as possible.

The implications of implementing the 'kill switch' on America and the rest of the world may lead to disastrous outcomes if this kill switch is actually executed. It may mean that websites such as facebook who are based in the States, will not be able to be accessed for long periods of time. This would especially hinder facebook addicts or any other providers that are shutdown. This will not only be annoying to the general internet user, but many corporations will lose 'x' amount of dollars a day as they have become so reliant on the internet for doing business. Will they be able to claim back this money that they have lost in business? Probably not.

So if there are all these bad implications why have a 'kill switch' switch in the first place? In the bill the internet is being described as a 'national asset' of America. Therefore, it must be protected from terrorists. They seem to think the best way to do this is to shut it down so no one can access private government files or anything else America wants to protect and deems as a national security issue. However, they may not have realised that this itself will instil terror into citizens not just in America but around the globe. Playing right into terrorist hands or even doing the work for them, as they will be the only people to benefit from the closure of the net. This bill is also interfering with the concept of the 'open web'. America may have jumped the gun on this idea and may end with up with unwanted and unintended consequences.