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[–] 107 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

All of the companies that would instantly start losing a billion dollars per second would never allow this to happen. This isn’t some 3rd world country where Google and Apple and Facebook aren’t headquartered. The internet will always be happening here. They’re completely dependent on it and their customer’s constant access to it.

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  • [–] 25 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Our econnomy is heavily tied to the Internet at this point. Billions in commerce are conducted directly and many billions more in enabled ("what's the closest pizza place?"). Not to mention stock trading, banking, government services, healthcare, etc. You're very much on track here and I don't think it's hyperbole.

    While it could technically happen that our government could legally shut down the internet, it wouldn't last long or it means we are under attack (perhaps internally) and need to control damage/messaging.

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  • [–] 89 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I’m seeing a lot of Newsweek posted here and that is disheartening, to say the least. Newsweek is half a step from the dailymail’s level of bombastic misrepresentation. Continued use of Newsweek as a source is not ideal as a result.

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  • [–] 51 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    This is literally impossible to do without total economic and social collapse. It's like saying you are going to shut off the electrical grid.

    Moronic statements made by moronic people who don't understand what the internet is and think internet = websites.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Right? No internet means no economy. Even the simplest daily things like getting gas require an internet connection.

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    [–] 45 points 2 years ago (1 child)
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Hands you a hollowed out hard copy of 1984 with a Sig 320 inside

    We are going to need a lot more people trained in Gun Kata soon, Cleric.

    But for now, its dangerous to go alone, take this!

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  • [–] 42 points 2 years ago (2 children)
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    [–] 39 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Miles Taylor, Trump's former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, was asked on MSNBC about what potential damage the former president, who is the frontrunner in the GOP primaries, could do in government without breaking the law.

    "The possibilities are almost limitless," Taylor said. "The biggest concerns for me are on the national security side. I think Americans still don't understand the full extent of the president's powers and things Donald Trump could do, bubble-wrapped in legalese, that would be damaging to the republic."

    "He could invoke powers we've never heard a President of the United States invoke—potentially to shut down companies or turn off the internet or deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil," he added. "We don't know because the things that are in there, the emergency powers of the president, aren't widely known to the American people.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    So no one said that he would or even may turn off the internet, but that he may use legalize and his emergency presidential powers, if elected, to do something crazy. The person talking about it was spitballing and included turning the internet off as a example of something crazy that he might do.

    Edit: He indeed talked about geoblocking countries with groups like ISIS operating within them. At least that is what I assume he meant with his word salad. This is from post below mine. Still not turning off internet.

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Oh Trump has blubbered about it enough that I would take it seriously.
    It wouldn't be a legal mechanism if there was something stopping him from doing it.

    (from the article)

    "We're losing a lot of people because of the internet," Trump said. "We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, 'Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.' These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people."

    "ISIS is recruiting through the Internet. ISIS is using the internet better than we are using the nternet and it was our idea," Trump said. "I want to get the brilliant people from Silicon Valley and other places and figure out a way that ISIS can't do what they're doing. I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet."

    When challenged, he added: "I'm not talking about closing the internet. I'm talking about closing parts of the internet where ISIS is."

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  • [–] 38 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Quick, hide that internet button so that grandpa can't switch it off!

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  • [–] 36 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    All i can say good luck. If you turn off the internet nothing will work and shit will hit the fan for the gov too fast.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Well, he’d pretty much turn off the government if he turned off the internet anyway

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    I agree and this is exactly my point. It will be chaos worse than anything we ever seen. People just don’t realize how dependent everything is on internet now.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Stores and banks aren't stocked or staffed for turning off e-commerce. Banks hate when customers walk in the door instead of doing everything online. And the stores woods have to find a drastically different equilibrium without internet advertising or orders. It would be absolute chaos.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    He shuts down major backbones, effectively turning off the U.S. Internet. At the same time, he releases a story to the media and telcos about a major attack on the backbones - a virus, whatever. There's panic and chaos, as the country grinds to a halt.

    He uses that to declare martial law.

    After a sufficient time (a small number of days, or even hours), he turns the backbones back on, claiming experts have fixed the problem. Citing martial law, he puts restrictions in place on the U.S, Internet, as dictators do.

    We now have severely limited access to real news and information, martial law, and a dictator in place. American Democracy is dead.

    Vote Democrat. No matter how much you think they're the same, they aren't.

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  • [–] 24 points 2 years ago

    I think he is too much of a narcissist to do something that would reduce the amount of attention he could receive.

    Also:

    https://youtu.be/Vywf48Dhyns?si=4aSVPpOGSIIXhv2I

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  • [–] 22 points 2 years ago

    Will he personally pull the plug off the wall so that ISIS stops being a meanie?

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago

    he learned that idea when he visited his buddy Kim in North Korea

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    To be clear this is unlikely to be a long term nation wide internet blackout. Rather, e.g., turn off the Internet in a section of a city and send in troops to deal with a protest.

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    [–] 17 points 2 years ago

    My balls might turn off the internet

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Lol every country on the brink that has tried this has incited their own revolution. When people loose their distraction machines they tend to aim anger in the right direction. I say turn it off.

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    [–] 16 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Is this enough dictator behavior to call him an aspiring dictator for you yet?

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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago

    I'm pretty sure the only way to turn off the internet is remove humans from the ultimate equation. We have a stubborn little habit of maintaining the status quo or ignoring the rules, especially when porn and/or money is on the line.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago
    [–] 12 points 2 years ago (12 children)

    ROFL!!

    If anything would get people fired up for a coup, it's that.

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    [–] 11 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    sounds like what he wants to do is block certain countries by ASN or something but doesn't know how to say it properly

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    [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    He's going to call Bill Gates to do it.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    This is literally just “the president has a lot of emergency powers, these are some of them”

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Finally.

    Finally a candidate who bases policy around the objectively correct take away from Ready Player One, the most culturally significant sci fi statement on society of our generation.

    (/s if that is somehow needed)

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    [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    I see a lot of dismissal of this idea here. I think a lot of people think the statement means just arbitrarily turning it off. Maybe it does, he is an incompetent moron. However, if we look at real life historical precident on how countries have disabled internet access in their countries, it usually immediately precedes a coup. So I could see him (or another R in the near future) attempting such a strategy at the end of term in order to seize control and stay in power.

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