Obama administration fights for right to use cellphone kill switch

[name not needed]

For nearly a decade, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has maintained a policy for unilaterally shutting down private cellular service, over an entire metropolitan area if necessary, in the event of a national crisis.

Adopted without public notice or debate, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 303, often referred to as the cellphone kill switch, has been shrouded in secrecy from its inception and has outraged some civil liberties groups battling to make the policy public.

A key hearing in that fight is set for next week.

“We have no clue what’s in it or what it’s about,” says Harold Feld, the senior vice president of Public Knowledge, a public interest advocacy group. In 2012 the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed suit in federal court seeking disclosure of information about SOP 303’s basic guidelines and policy procedures.

...

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/26/obama-fights-for-secrecy-cellphone-kill-switch.html

[AuntPatsy]

1. Sounds convenient

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice;

Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. Lord Acton

[Trillo]

3. In the hopefully hypothetical times of a national emergency,

wanting to contact your loved ones would be very human.

[HereSince1628]

9. Yes, but they want a tool to shut down communication of 'terrorists'

You know, THE GOLDARN TERRORISTS!!!

The people who say things like Black Lives MATTER! People like Occupy? People who use cellphone service in real time to organize multiple simultaneous protest marches to overwhelm the capacity of the police/state to corral them?

[Trillo]

11. In both cases, the phone is not available when it is most needed.

This calls into question the value provided by the service. For some bureaucrat to be able to turn it off remotely makes the devices bait and switch. Here's this fancy appliance that even your employer now demands you possess at your own excessive costs, all of which is non-deductible to the employee, but when anyone REALLY NEEDs to call their loved ones, or partners or associates, they are not available.

These devices are not available when they are most needed! They violate locational privacy by providing tracking information to Big Brother. They are reported to have "backdoors" which additionally jeopardize privacy of information. They cost too much.

Not convinced the benefits outweigh the costs.

[okaawhatever]

12. Terrorism is a very real threat to this country. It's a shame that you so easily dismiss & mock it /

[HereSince1628]

13. I'd say terrorism is a potential threat, it has been for a long time

Of course the definition has changed so things that were 'violent protests' the Puhlman riots in the late 1800's are now called terrorism...

The reality of terrorism is Murrow Federal building bombing...2 times--World Trade Center attacks...Boston Marathon Bombing...maybe the Sikh Temple shooting in Milwaukee, although that seems more like a mass murder...the Anthrax Attacks (False Flag operation???), possibly the Fort Hood shooting, although that too seems more like a mass murder, or simply an enemy attack on the military

In NONE of those circumstances was there a need, or really a desire, to shut down telephonic communication that the citizenry needed.

FEAR is the enemy of Liberty. Militarization includes adopting military tactics which include disruption of ENEMY communications. Protestors ARE NOT THE ENEMY...they ARE CITIZENS frustrated and offended, and yes sometimes behaving in criminal ways.

[GoneFishin]

4. I saw hints that they may have used it in New England on 9/11.

[PADemD]

5. Dumb idea.

So no last good bye's to loved ones, or receiving a text message from your kid's school, or setting up an emergency meeting place with loved ones.

[jakeXT]

6. I didn't know they used it to stop a protest

Civil liberties groups fear that such far-reaching and unchecked power could be used simply to quell dissent. That’s exactly what happened in August 2011 when officials of Northern California’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system utilized its kill switch to temporarily shut off cellphone service in several subway stations. The shutdown wasn’t in response to a terrorist threat. Its purpose was to prevent a demonstration that organizers planned to hold in those stations protesting a fatal subway shooting by a BART police officer.

[hobbit709]

7. And people tell me to drop my landline in favor of cell only.

[tk2kewl]

8. i wonder if a peer to peer network with blue tooth and near field...

could help people communicate if thy shut down cell service?

[Taitertots]

10. My prediction: this will never prevent/reduce the impact of a terrorist attack

This will get used on the American people for protesting the criminality of the people who are in control.