The Law That Could Allow Trump To Shut Down The US Internet

From Dec 2, 2016

In a pair of recent essays, Timothy Edgar, the academic director of law and policy at Brown University's Executive Master in Cybersecurity program, has outlined the legal basis for how a President Donald Trump could potentially shut down the U.S. internet in response to a national security crisis..

If Trump decides to build a great firewall, he may not need Congress. Section 606 of the Communications Act of 1934 provides emergency powers to seize control of communications facilities if the president declares there is a "war or threat of war" or "a state of public peril." In 2010, a Senate report concluded that section 606 "gives the President the authority to take over wire communications in the United States and, if the President so chooses, shut a network down." With a stroke of a pen, Trump could invoke it.

Section 606 has never been applied to the internet, but there is nothing in the law that explicitly says it cannot be. The question is whether the government’s statutory authority over traditional telecommunications under 606 extends to the internet. The issue is similar to the question of whether the FCC can use its regulatory authority to impose “net neutrality” rules under other provisions of the statute. In June 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the FCC’s power to impose “net neutrality” rules.

If Trump wants to “close that internet up,” all he will need is an opinion from his Attorney General that section 606 gives him authority to do so, and that the threat of terrorism is compelling enough to override any First Amendment concerns..

Desire for such moves are not unprecedented in the United States and are not limited to Trump and Republicans. Let's not forget Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman's 2010 attempt to create an "Internet kill switch" for the President. Sen. Lieberman pointed to China as his inspiration for giving the President such capability.

We need the capacity for the president to say, Internet service provider, we’ve got to disconnect the American Internet from all traffic coming in from another foreign country… Right now, China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in a case of war. We need to have that here, too..

https://www.forbes.com/sites/seanlawson/2016/12/02/the-law-that-could-allow-trump-to-shut-down-the-u-s-internet/#13c08ce94dac