In a recent speech in South Carolina, Donald Trump said he would consider “shutting down parts of the internet” to combat ISIS. But somewhere around here, Mr. Trump won’t be happy to hear the following – America doesn’t control the internet everywhere in the world! Furthermore, many American websites are already censored due to terrorist activities.
So President Trump ’s only hypothetical hope for shutting down the internet would be based solely in America, and thanks to a fairly secretive government policy, he could probably pull it off. Written in 2006, Standard Operating Procedure 303 gives the federal government the authority to shut down network activity in any region during an emergency. However, since internet-enabled devices did n’t exist in 2006, a network outage today could shut down the internet for many important pieces of technology. In 2011, the Electronic Information Protection Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking DHS to release the full text of SOP303. They’re still fighting for disclosure in the Supreme Court. So while Trump ’s words may seem ridiculous, they’re not that far-fetched. However, would Trump really want to interrupt his constant media coverage by shutting down the Internet?
