The govt "Kill Switch" on the net? Seriously? As far as I know, and from what I've learned in History books and the History Channel, the Govt in the US, are the ones who came up with the idea of the "Internet" and called it Darpa.

They wanted something that could keep running if something else was destroyed, and then, BBN got a grant from the Govt to actually make it happen while Berkeley (Those guys who came up with LSD and BSD) would be the people making the interface.

Well, Bill Joy didn't like what BBN was doing and after seeing some of the non-complete code (He had asked for this to see what they had come up with so far) and so while looking over the code, he saw they weren't doing a very good job.

Well, he decided to do it himself. The TCP/IP with Berkeley was WAY better, and so it already had seen release because of BSD making tapes for people all over the country, and so the govt stepped in when BBN whined like little girls that Berkeley people were being "Big meanie heads" and wouldn't take their code, they stepped in and said they wanted them to use it, and Berkeley said "No".

Well, they decided that since Berkeley wouldn't budge and use the crap BBN made, and BBN wouldn't stop whining like girls, they would have someone else do the tests and come up with what actually did work better.

This was because BBN claimed they were better and Berkeley said that was a load, and that THEY were better. And independent third party was asked to do REAL tests. I can't remember the guy's name, but he was someone BBN had somewhat heard of and that he knew something about Networking, and, being that he was a huge contributer to Berkeley, they were happy with him too.

He said that BBN got an early lead, but that while it was rebooting the Berkeley code caught up and, therefore, in the end, Berkeley's TCP/IP, was the better option.

The US Govt not only came up with the idea, they funded the whole thing, as a bunch of Hackers in Berkeley, made it happen.

In other words, I DO sometimes feel weird when I see people complain that the Govt in the US has to much control over the Internet.... That's a lot like saying Microsoft had to much control over MS-DOS.

And that's a very good analogy I might add; Microsoft paid Tim Patterson something like 50,000 dollars for MS-DOS, and then made it their own product for IBM, who was considered the Big Brother of it's time, and now, the US Govt, who paid for the Internet and funded the whole thing, it is in a way their product too.

No one complained much about Microsoft buying DOS from another Company / Man (Tim Patterson? Seattle Computer Products) and selling it as their own, where the Govt here in the US, made the Internet Happen, and still don't do much to it.

If you want to complain about a Bastardized Internet, look to China. They do more to destroy what the Internet was meant to be than any other Country I know of. Censorship is bad. The US govt saying they need a kill switch, is logical. They paid for the thing after all.

And Believe Me, I'm NOT some guy who doesn't speak his mind... This is just something I think is silly to freak out about. It would make no sense to use this "kill switch" as then, a lot of companies who rely on the Internet for business, would sue. (It IS possible to Sue the govt after all. We have a Democracy still).

To put it in short; I think some of this, while maybe valid in worry about what WOULD happen, is still a guy who thinks that just because he likes surfing the net, somehow makes him think he has EARNED the right to have Internet.