S733: Obama Internet Power Grab Could Have Serious Consequences to the Economy

At a moment’s notice, Barack Obama may soon have the power to shut down the internet. The language claims the power will be granted to the president for emergency purposes, the power in the wrong hands could have dire consequences to the economy.

Every day, billions of dollars are transferred over internet lines in the form of commerce, banking, and markets. Business have entire databases that run their business available over the internet to provide accessibility to remote offices and stores. Communication companies now use the internet to route telephone calls. Even the modern federal patient database will be powered over the internet. As I have discussed before, too many of our daily processes are dependent on an internet connection. Imagine the power a president has to gain more control of the people through such power. It’s as if Obama will be given the power of an electromagnetic pulse that will down the entire network at his discretion—all justified at the declaration of an emergency, whatever that may be.

Many have accused Obama of intentionally wrecking the free market economy, since many of his policies are big government friendly, free market crushing policies—like cap and trade which is guaranteed to cost Americans more jobs if passed. If it’s truly Obama’s will to bring down the American economy through a failure of the free market to establish the need for a philosophical change then handing him the equivalent of the new ‘nuclear button’ is a dangerous proposition.

Shutting down the internet may be one of the greatest but little thought of threats to the free market and American economy when you consider the scale and importance of the internet for life in America. This goes far beyond basic e-commerce with Amazon. We have put far too much trust in the Internet, and now it may come back to haunt us much like it haunted Iranian students earlier this year.

Many business could go under. In fact, many businesses who run on the ASP model better begin to think about the consequences if their customers are unable to use their services. As ASP is an application designed to run on the Web.