Cyberspace Declared a "National Asset"

Ok, so it hasn't passed yet, but Ol' Joe Lieberman has brought a bill up in the Senate that gives the government the ability to effectively turn off or alter the internet in the case of a national emergency. 

http://gizmodo.com/5567094/new-bill-would-give-the-president-an-internet-kill-switch

No part of that sounds good to me.  I can't really think of a situation where the internet would need to be turned off by my government.  I'm okay with government regulations involving public safety, but this is too far for my tastes.

Another interesting page I found recently on google shows how many site removal requests have been submitted by each country.  The US ranks 4th (China is not included though). 

http://www.google.com/governmentrequests/

Maybe these were just requests to remove terrible things (ie: child pornography, "snuff" films, etc.), but who draws the line?  I guess that's always the trouble with increasing regulation though; at some point, "regulation" becomes "paternalism" which eventually becomes "totalitarianism".  Give Orwell's 1984 a read sometime before the next election, and think about it.

And before you blame it all on the Democrats, read up on the USA PATRIOT Act sometime.