How often do most people, faced with server errors and slow Internet speeds, chalk it up to poor service? Who would suspect the government behind server errors and slow Internet speeds?
Digital kill switches are security mechanisms designed to remotely disable or delete software, hardware, or data in case of theft, unauthorized access, or other security threats. These switches are an important aspect of IT security strategies for protecting sensitive information and technology infrastructure. The concept applies across a wide range of devices and systems, from smartphones and laptops to servers and IoT devices.
The kill switch, for example, serves to censor content and restrict the dissemination of news. This particularly affects news about police brutality, human rights violations, or educational information. Governments can also use the kill switch to prevent government-critical demonstrators from communicating via news applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook, or Twitter and organizing mass demonstrations.
Therefore, Internet restrictions can be a way to regulate the flow of information and prevent dissenting opinions. Governments argue that Internet restrictions help stop the spread of fake news and strengthen national and public security in times of unrest.
The primary purpose of a digital kill switch is to prevent unauthorized access to or use of devices and data. This capability is especially crucial in situations where devices containing sensitive information are lost or stolen. By activating a kill switch, the device can be rendered inoperable, or the data it contains can be wiped clean, thereby protecting the information from being accessed or misused.
Digital authoritarianism, warns the Center for Strategic and International Studies, involves the use of information technology to monitor, suppress, and manipulate the population, endangering human rights and civil liberties, and co-opting and corrupting the fundamental principles of democratic and open societies, “including freedom of movement, the right to free speech, and the right to privacy, online and offline.“
Many smartphones and tablets come equipped with built-in kill switches, often referred to as “remote wipe” capabilities. These allow device owners or IT administrators to remotely delete all data from the device in case it is lost or stolen.
For instance, Apple’s “Find My iPhone” and Google’s “Find My Device” services include options to remotely wipe devices.
In Enterprise IT
For those who insist that this cannot happen here, it can happen, and it has happened.
In United States this particular kill switch can be traced back to the Communications Act of 1934.
The act, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, authorizes the president to suspend wireless radio and telephone services, “if he deems it necessary in the interest of national security or defense,” and during a “war or threat of war, public peril, disaster, or other national emergency, or to preserve the neutrality of the United States.“
In the event of a national crisis, the president has a true arsenal of emergency powers that can override the Constitution and be activated in a moment’s notice. These range from imposing martial law and suspending habeas corpus to shutting down all means of communication, restricting travel, and establishing a communication kill switch.
As shutdowns become harder to detect, it’s not to say they aren’t happening.
Now they are even controlling cars!!!!
While a Internet kill switch is generally understood as a complete shutdown of the Internet, it can also encompass a wide range of restrictions, such as content blocking, throttling, filtering, complete shutdown, and cutting cables.
In the context of enterprise IT, kill switches can be used to disable access to applications or data when a security breach is detected, or when an employee leaves the company. This is often managed through mobile device management (MDM) solutions or identity and access management (IAM) systems.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
On the other hand, this is the same government that has subjected us to all sorts of infringements on our freedoms (lockdowns, mandates, restrictions, contact tracing programs, enhanced surveillance, censorship, overcriminalization, shadow banning, etc.) to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, preserve the integrity of elections, and combat misinformation.
These tactics have become instruments of domination and suppression in an Internet-dependent age.
In United States, the Section 24220 of the Act 3684 – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act mandates that to reduce the incidence of alcohol-related driving fatalities, all new passenger vehicles must come equipped with advanced technologies designed to prevent drunk and impaired driving.
The specifics of how this system will identify impairment and the extent of the government’s involvement in addressing cases of suspected drunk driving remain uncertain. However, the statute is explicit in its requirement for new vehicles to integrate a system that monitors drivers and possesses the capability to halt vehicle operation upon recognizing signs of impairment.
No matter the reasons given for such lockdowns. Regardless of the justification, the end result is the same: an expansion of state power in direct proportion to the suppression of citizens by the government.
Whatever powers you now concede to the government and its corporate representatives – for whatever reasons – will someday be abused and used against you by the tyrants you have created.
These technologies include a computerized system capable of passively observing a driver’s performance and, if necessary, disabling or restricting the vehicle’s operation when signs of impairment are detected.
Furthermore, the existence of a kill switch can be seen as a vulnerability if hackers are able to trigger it maliciously.
Conclusion
Limiting access to social media has become a popular method of Internet censorship, packaged as an attempt to control the spread of speculative or false information in the name of national security.
As technology continues to evolve, the mechanisms and strategies surrounding kill switches will likely adapt to new threats and challenges, maintaining their role as an essential component of IT security.
There may be many more secret powers that presidents can use in so-called times of crisis without control by Congress, the courts, or the public. These powers do not expire at the end of a president’s term. They remain on the books, waiting to be used or abused by the next political demagogue.
The specific actions the president will take when declaring a national emergency are hard to discern from the directives. However, one thing is clear: In the event of a perceived national emergency, the COG directives grant the president unchecked executive, legislative, and judicial power.
Protect yourself, create a strategy for communicating with your loved ones without internet, with the transform course we give you the tools, and empowerment to live a life free of tracking and control for you and your loved ones.
