California has passed legislation that mandates kill switch in mobile phones in California. The legislation gives police the ability to remotely kill mobile phone service. in an effort to render phones useless in the event of theft. If the phone is useless, the resale value plummets as does the rate of theft or so the theory goes. There are major civil liberty concerns by giving police such an ability, and giving legislators a new tool to govern as well.

Why This Matters So Much

The First Amendment of the Constitution gives us not only the freedom of expression, but also the right to peacefully assemble. These days, we assemble on the web. We rally together in droves online to point out injustices in our society just as we meet on the streets to peacefully protest. This legislation is poised to interfere with our ability to peacefully assemble on-line and in real life. Imagine if Frederick Douglas wasn’t allowed to attend abolitionist meetings or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Wasn’t able to get the word out about the march on Washington. That’s what’s on the table here; the ability for the every person to make their voice count when it matters most – to confront injustice.

Read on for precedents and specifics.

Concerns

This legislation may create more problems than it actually solves and the potential for abuse is extremely high.

Kill Switch coming soon to terms and services agreements and legislation near you

 In the Terms and Services Agreement with your mobile provider, they can embed a line wherein you agree and give them the write to temporarily or permanently kill or block your phone if it is used to defame or bully any person or institution. Put another way, if you use Twitter to talk smack about Verizon’s Edge service for example, you may find your tweets blocked. Traffic shaping is already legal and up to the discretion of the provider. I know you may think it’s unfair, and disagree with it but it is none the less true. Verizon or AT&T can decide to throttle your traffic and prevent you from uploading a video criticizing their services…at their discretion.

It May Fail as it underestimates the ability of criminals and hackers to bypass/hack or make devices viable again.

Think about every effort Apple, the top tech company in the space has made to prevent it’s OS from being Jailbroken. It’s been done, every single time, with every single release. And it is made simple and easy to do so very quickly. We’re talking about self-destructing software not the hardware that blows up. This isn’t Mission Impossible thank goodness.

Precedent and Contributing Factors

You thought the government illegally spying was bad- this gives them the ability to shut you up. 

Traffic Shaping is already legal

It’s legal for mobile providers to “shape” the way you use traffic online. They are allowed to decide what traffic is priority and what is disrupted our prevented. It is completely up to them. What’s to stop them from preventing your communications? Some of you may say the constitution and perhaps a few of you may think to specifically reference the First Amendment and freedom of speech, and the freedom to peacefully assemble. I guess the powers that be are counting on the masses remaining ignorant and forgetful of our civil rights, especially in times like these where the division of classes and the threat of plutocracy and oligarchy are so high.

Expect amendments on the way – cyber bullying legislation clause

You can count on this new tool being implemented in the event of alleged cyber-bullying, defamation, or any negative speech those in power deem inappropriate or illegal. Despite the constitution. You can count on power hungry legislators and politicians looking to “protect the children” and build their reputation to pass this kind of legislation.

Corporations are people according to the Supreme Court- So when is a corporation officially identified as being cyber-bullied? When is it okay to stop protestors from saying negative things?

Terrorism and fear mongering/ communications blocking legislation

Last year in California, the Bay Area Regional Transit (known as BART to the locals) proposed legislation that would allow them to jam mobile communications in the event of a security threat. They used terrorism as an example, but the real security concern at the time were riots going on in the Oakland Berkley area. They wanted the ability to prevent train riders from organizing (legitimately or not, nonviolently or otherwise) and protesting. Think about that for a moment. They were intentionally attempting to prevent citizens from organizing. This was also during a time when you had Transit Unions going on strike. Amazingly useful the ability to kill communication is.

One thing is certain, we need to articulate our constitutional rights and reconcile them with the information age before it’s too late, before we have to fight for them again. I am deeply disturbed by this and hope you are as well.

Please share this post and contact your representatives and let them know that these issues matter to you! Start the conversation. We need to protect ourselves by being proactive with these issues.