Dakota Beacon

Almost six months ago, American Thinker published two articles (HERE and HERE) that I wrote about Obama's desire to stifle conservative talk radio. But The Chosen One's interest in controlling information flow isn't limited to talk radio. Wendy McElroy, at The Freeman Online, reports, "The Obama administration is seeking domestic and worldwide control of the Internet."

McElroy is referring to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) Act. If legislation with provisions like those in RIAA passes, any president could shut down the internet and other entire industries that refuse to follow Washington's orders in times of "national emergency."

With the new GOP House majority, Congress would have to act within the next two months to pass RIAA--or something like it. Such legislation is unlikely to move forward.

Still, we mustn't downplay the danger of Obama getting his way through other methods.

The mechanism specified by RIAA for establishing federal control over the internet is quite simple. The Attorney General would ask a court to place targeted websites on a "blacklist." Regulatory measures could be used instead of full-blown legislation. (Again, please refer to my two American Thinker pieces [1, 2] for the kinds of methods that might be used.)

McElroy quotes from internet watchdog group Electronic Frontier Foundation, which warns that if something like RIAA were exercised by a president, "an enormous amount of noninfringing [sic] content, including political and other speech, could disappear off the Web."

Indeed, what better way to shut down your political opponents in times of "emergency?" No rational observer of the past two years thinks that Barack Obama would not resort to something so devious in lieu of legislative options.

If RIAA-style regulations were instituted through the FCC or other agency, then a president could issue an "E-wiretap" order, which in McElroy's words "would provide the U.S. government with a back door into all communications systems, including all encryption software, email transmitters like BlackBerry, and social-networking sites like Facebook." Software developers for "peer-to-peer" communications (like Skype) would be strong-armed by the feds into redoing their applications to allow Washington to snoop on what's being said.

In other words, it would be illegal for people in America to communicate with each other over the web without government having access to everything communicated.

Orwell's 1984 may not be reality, but 26 years late, America is nevertheless much closer to experiencing the novel's awful predictions. If Obama somehow gets his way, using his herd of czars and regulators, Americans will be told how many times per minute we may exhale (CO₂ "pollution"), how much salt we can consume (blood pressure control to keep Obamacare costs down), how much food we may eat (ditto Obamacare concerns), and what we can and cannot say to each other over the internet.

The Alaskan outback, large caliber guns, and a sturdy fly-rod are looking more appealing all the time.

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© 2010 Chuck Rogér