Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Weekend Contributor
You may not have heard of it before, but the government has the ability to shut off cell phone service at any time, under the guise of National Security. The Department of Homeland Security has an operating procedure known as Standard Operating Procedure 303( SOP 303) and it has been labeled as the cell phone “kill switch”.
I knew very little about the “kill switch” before today, but according to a recent Al Jezeera America article, the kill switch authority is being currently debated in Federal court.
“For nearly a decade, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has maintained a policy for unilaterally shutting down private cellular service, over an entire metropolitan area if necessary, in the event of a national crisis.
Adopted without public notice or debate, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 303, often referred to as the cellphone kill switch, has been shrouded in secrecy from its inception and has outraged some civil liberties groups battling to make the policy public.
A key hearing in that fight is set for next week.
“We have no clue what’s in it or what it’s about,” says Harold Feld, the senior vice president of Public Knowledge, a public interest advocacy group. In 2012 the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed suit in federal court seeking disclosure of information about SOP 303’s basic guidelines and policy procedures.
Using the argument that releasing any information about SOP 303 would risk public safety, the DHS prevailed in an appeals court after a lower court ruled in favor of making the policy public. In March of this year, however, EPIC’s petition for a rehearing of that appellate court decision was allowed to proceed, with the court issuing an April 27 deadline for the government to respond.” Reader Supported News
The government is fighting to keep the public in the dark about just who makes the decision to utilize the “kill switch” and what factors the decision maker(s) use to determine if there is a national security risk that requires the use of the “kill switch”. I think most of us can understand that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a difficult job in keep all of us safe. However, I believe the government has relied upon the national security defense too liberally in this case.
One should not be surprised that the SOP 303 could very easily be misused and if the Obama Administration is allowed to keep these policies secret, the threat to civil liberties is palpable. The reason I believe that civil liberties could be threatened is because the “kill switch” has already been used to thwart free speech on a local level.
“Civil liberties groups fear that such far-reaching and unchecked power could be used simply to quell dissent. That’s exactly what happened in August 2011 when officials of Northern California’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system utilized its kill switch to temporarily shut off cellphone service in several subway stations. The shutdown wasn’t in response to a terrorist threat. Its purpose was to prevent a demonstration that organizers planned to hold in those stations protesting a fatal subway shooting by a BART police officer.” Reader Supported News
When you see the vast reach of social media and smart phones, it is not surprising that government officials may abuse the authority to prevent or disrupt ongoing legal demonstrations or attempt to prevent a legal demonstration as noted above in Northern California. Shouldn’t the authorities have a narrow authority and implementation process before the First Amendment rights of thousands or even millions of people are impacted?
We have already seen how smartphones and social media have aided citizens in Northern California, but Syria and Egypt blocked cell phones and the internet in response to citizen protests and demonstrations. With this background of a “kill switch” being utilized to thwart public demonstrations here and abroad, the Obama Administration should at least tell us who can decide to use the switch and under what narrow guidelines can it be used.
Are we asking too much? Is the First Amendment at risk without us knowing how and when this extreme measure can be legally used? When we know that SOP 303 was secretly developed in a very hasty manner after the London subway bombings, isn’t that another reason to be concerned? What do you think?
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What’s a little gap in cell phone service?
America is lost when it first ignores its essential context, the Preamble, and proceeds to nullify its Constitution. “Abide by the law” may apply.
Chief Justice Taney told Lincoln that he, Lincoln, did not have authority to suspend Habeas Corpus. Lincoln, the tyrannical, despotic dictator, did it anyway. The entire Lincoln “Reign of Terror” was unconstitutional, from confiscation of private property to war and compulsory ratification of Civil War amendments without a quorum, through coercion and under the duress of war.
The shadow government’s “ruling elite” believe that the Preamble, Constitution and Bill of Rights say, “do anything you like.”
Justice, Tranquility, Common Defence, Promote General Welfare.
The “blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” are freedom and free enterprise without governmental interference.
Infinite and arbitrary, obfuscatory convolutions aside.
Alexander – It is not called the War of Northern Aggression for nothing.
I’ll try this again…
President Bernie Sanders Would Dismantle NSA Spying
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/president-bernie-sanders-would-dismantle-nsa-spying-20150501
@NickS
Well, maybe people like that can throw their phones at the Stormtroopers, if that day ever comes.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeek, The author of this good post hates the 2nd Amendment. Ironic.
Interesting discussion about nullifying the Constitution. Last time I checked the Constitution and Bill of Rights were not optional. Apparently, Americans are to be mesmerized by the insidious, arbitrary convolutions of snake oil salesmen and acquiesce to the obviously superior elitists as those Americans fail to notice that privacy has been not only violated but eliminated. I like it. I’m sure the Founder do too.
There is one thing that might be of some greater, fundamental importance today, however, and that is Obama’s “fundamental transformation” of the country he loves (of course, as the son of a radical foreign anti-colonialist, he hates it). As countries around the world “get RMB-ready,” this article might reveal the fact of Obama’s cultural, military and economic destruction, for the benefit of all the world’s “immigrating” (the campground is full) non-American hyphenates:
________
“Why companies are getting RMB-ready”
Simon Cooper, Chief Executive of Global Commercial Banking, HSBC
“China overtook the US in 2013 to become the world’s largest trading nation, with its trade in goods passing the USD4 trillion mark. This rapid growth has created significant opportunities for international businesses…
…the RMB…has evolved quickly as China has implemented a series of reforms to remove financial and bureaucratic barriers to its use.
China is pursuing a three-stage approach: expanding the RMB’s role in foreign trade settlement, increasing its use in cross-border investment,
and finally establishing it as a reserve currency.
The first stage is well underway. The RMB was used to settle 18 per cent of China’s total trade last year, up from 3 per cent in 2010, according to HSBC Global Research.
Significant progress has also been made in the second stage of development. The offshore RMB bond market – so-called dim sum bonds – has doubled in size each year since 2008, while offshore RMB centres have been established in locations including Hong Kong, Singapore and London. As of March, we estimate that more than 10,000 financial institutions were doing business in RMB, compared with just 900 in June 2011…”
________
Following the American Founders model of a restricted-vote republic implementing freedom and free enterprise without governmental interference, China is a free enterprise juggernaut, creating an increasing stream of billionaires and gobbling up economic opportunities like Pac Man on its way to immutable global hegemony.
What’s in your wallet?
Better make it the Renminbi.
Thanks, Obama.
@NickS
What I wonder about is how come some people see right through the cell phone kill switch issue, and the NSA abuses, the Police State in general, and even the over-militarization of police (although that is probably necessary) but then either do a big snoozy when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, or actively seek to reign those rights in.
Gee, if you are afraid the government is going to take over your entire life, how do you plan on having a revolution, if that is ever needed??? And after all the Leftist hollering about Baltimore, and Ferguson, etc., do they really want the police to be the only ones with guns???
Go figure.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Good post, rafflaw. I have read about the kill switch recently. There should be little doubt the govt. has exploited legitimate fear of terrorists to seek more control over our civil liberties. The Patriot Act is coming up for reauthorization in a couple months and there needs to be some substantive discussions of how we need to control our govt., an increasingly formidable threat to our civil liberties.
Secret laws, secret courts, secret procedures. If you only knew what I knew you’d agree with me, but I can’t tell you. Because it’s a secret.
If you thought Gray being in the back of a van was a problem, wait until they kill everyone’s cell service.
The example of BART killing the cell phone reception in its systems for fear that cellphones would be used to organize a protest, most likely in the system, is a perfect example of responsible use of this option. Protesters on cell phones organizing a demonstration in such confined and potentially dangerous areas should not only be thwarted but arrested. There are plenty of open and safe spaces in the Bay Area for protests. There is nothing in the right to free speech or the right to protest that permits it causing collateral damage by doing it in crowded spaces with moving trains.
The cell phone ‘kill’ switch is akin to wire tapping, an accepted and controlled performance of police powers. However the removal of the telephone or cell phone safety aspect of calling for help in moments of distress in an area blanketed by a switch, creates a level of police powers that should be carefully monitored, openly, through public venues such as courts and commissions. Even if the ‘killing’ of cell phones were only to be done surgically in specific areas where the need is seen, the potential for collateral damage is always there. This is the case in almost any aspect of governing and policing of a society.
Darren
Because one system of igniting bombs can be replaced with another does not mean that any system should be left alone. The war against terrorism or any war for that matter follows increments. One can only hope to lesson the opportunity for the enemy to attack. The goal is all methods of attack. The reality is as many as can be thwarted. In the worst scenario vis a vis government intrusion into private lives it may seem like overkill, however, that is why we remain vigilant and live in a society where hopefully those in power listen. It is not an issue of left or right branches of government so much as technology’s rate of advancement. That which was a novelty a generation ago has now been accepted as an indispensable ‘right’, even if it can not be found in the Constitution without liberal interpretation. There is an element of yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded cinema in the world of cellphones and technology. Unfortunately this comes with the territory. If the FBI is reading this they should spend their time more fruitfully.
Reblogged this on PUMABydesign001's Blog.
Cell phone kill switches, computer back-doors, mass surveillance. I feel safer already.
If the terrorists knew that cell phone capability would be shut off in a train station and they were bent on blowing up the place remotely, all they would need to do is switch to a different frequency and method for remote detonation.
Just after the beginning of the 2003 Iraq war, insurgents began using garage door remotes to detonate bombs. I read in the public domain the CIA began a countermeasures technique by driving around using an undercover vehicle equipped with transmitter emitting all the known garage door opening codes to cause premature detonations of bombs in the hands of the insurgents. Eventually the insurgents realized this and adopted other tactics. During The Troubles in Northern Ireland the IRA used radio controllers for model aircraft to accomplish the same objective.
The suicide bomber is not going to be stopped by a jamming of cellphone communications and there is a wide spectrum of radio frequencies that can be utilized, it is not possible to jam or silence them all.
The jamming of cell phones might thwart the entry-level bomber, but it is not going to stop a sophisticated terrorist.
Yet, the curtailment of speech is certainly an attractive option of this administration and it probably is only a matter of time before it is utilized by this or future administrations or other government entities for nefarious purposes.
Based on the fact that the government used the “kill switch” to stifle dissent in 2011, I can answer “yes” to the question of it being in the wrongs hands. Also very curious why it it that the government can’t even articulate when and where it is permissible to kill cell service.
Putting the power in any government’s hands to shut down the ability of its citizens to communicate with each other is both chilling and dangerous. There is no national security purpose to be served by shutting down all private communication. As to the job of “Homeland” Security”, the outrageous claims of this department and it need for more and more power should be raising red flags for every human in this country.
A government that doesn’t want its citizens to communicate is a government that is doing something it knows is wrong and destructive.
Hmmm. If riots and the fear of “communities” running amok is the problem, why not have an EBT/welfare card kill switch??? It could be justified as a, “We don’t want the poor-folks shoppers to be around all this violence where they might get hurt.”
I just bet that you would have a whole lot more mothers out there whomping their little savages upside the head like that one woman in Baltimore.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I think I am very concerned with the idea that the Government could for unspecified reasons cut off communication. They ‘say’ it is for our own safety, but I have this suspicion it is to keep us from being able to communicate with each other. Another layer of control over the public. They want to disarm us and keep us from communicating. All the better to control us.
Perhaps I’m being somewhat paranoid, but in my many years of experience, I have learned that what the “powers that be” say they are doing and the reasons for their actions are never really straight forward or transparent. I DO NOT TRUST THEM.
In an emergency, the people need to have communication with each other and with those agencies that would be there to help. Fire protection, ambulance, police……AND to be able to check in on family members.
Some years ago when there was a large earthquake in the Bay Area, parts of the Bay Bridge collapsed and communication in the form of land lines was cut off in some areas. Cell phones were not as ubiquitous as they are now, but the ability to have a cell phone and communicate was a God send.
My family who lives in that area could not call out…make long distance calls. They could make some calls within their local calling area. We could not call in. I was frantic to know if they were OK. Fortunately, one of my clients who was in an area where they could call out, called ME from his phone. He went to my families home and they were able to use his phone to call out. Whew.
Imagine something similar today and the Government decides that this would constitute an emergency and cut off phone contact. People will be inconvenienced at best….people might die.
BarkinDog
Those who have studied the Bible will explain to you, if you are interested, that the translation of the sixth commandment is that one is forbidden to murder. Killing is not always murder. Big distinction, if, as a dog, you are curious. There are justifications, in the Bible, for killing, but not for murder. Death row inmates are killed, not murdered.
Not so concerned or worried with when and if our government uses this as I am about terrorists accessing the ability to shut down all communication. Did you say Al Jezeera America reported this? Hmmmmmmmm.
They have one of those kill switches in the State Capitol in Texas. They strap a guy in a chair and hit the “kill switch” and zap he is soon dead. A kill switch is in violation of the Sixth Commandment. But they don’t care about violating the Ten Commandments in Texas. The Texans all think that they will get a pass when their time for the interview at the Pearly Gates comes about. And they will get a pass and it will say straight to hell and they will be standing on a trap door and Saint Peter will hit the Hell Switch. It is what it is.