The Only Escape From Big Brother
This month, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Department of Homeland Security must make its plan to shut off the internet and cellphone communications available to the American public.
You, of course, may now be thinking: What plan?! Though President Barack Obama swiftly disapproved of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak turning off the internet in his country (to quell widespread civil disobedience) in 2011, the US government has the authority to do the same sort of thing, under a plan that was devised during the George W. Bush administration.
Many details of the government's controversial "kill switch" authority have been classified, such as the conditions under which it can be implemented and how the switch can be used. But thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), DHS has to reveal those details by December 12—or mount an appeal.
Homeland Security, NSA
Watching our shit
By night and day
Cell phone, land line, on the 'net
Meta data on yo' momma
And the girl you just met
But if you think they'll stop there
When the shit goes down
You'd be real wrong
A wearin' a frown
Cuz here's the plan
When things turn nasty
They're gonna cut the wires
Like the guy in the movie
Except this time
The ending ain't groovy
No cell phone, land line, Internet
The biggest kill switch
You ever fucking met
Because the last thing they want
When the people had enough
Is communication between us
That would make it rough
For them to stop
Our unity, our voices
Taking away
All of our choices
Thanks to the folks
at EPIC, my friends
The DHS might have
to make amends
To tell us little people about
Their kill switch plan
And the reasoning behind it
Glad they took a stand