Schwartz On Security: The Right To Social NetworksSchwartz On Security: The Right To Social Networks

Interestingly, Egypt's Internet and cell phone blocks, instead of scaring people home, may have driven them into the streets. How else to explain the sudden shift, over the weekend, when Vodafone and France Telecom reported that cell phone blocks were being lifted? By Wednesday, the government apparently restored full Internet service, as the army urged demonstrators to return home. After Tuesday's so-called Million Man march in Cairo -- which drew at least a quarter of a million people, many waving their shoes -- and protests elsewhere in the country, it's unclear what will happen. But whatever the outcome, social networking is now a potent tool for helping people organize and protest against unfair regimes.

Bad timing, then, for Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking member on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, who recently announced that she'd reintroduce a bill designed to let the president pull the plug on the Internet in the event of a devastating critical infrastructure attack.

"My legislation would provide a mechanism for the government to work with the private sector in the event of a true cyber emergency," Collins told Wired.com. "It would give our nation the best tools available to swiftly respond to a significant threat."

Never mind that this so-called Internet kill switch has been thoroughly debunked. While the idea might have political currency, it offers no real-world upside, except for stoking overblown fears of cyber warfare. Furthermore, if unplugging the United States from the Internet were even possible, it would be like using a nuclear bomb to stop a bank robber. Never mind its long-term effect on Wall Street.

Accordingly, let's leave questions of blocking the Internet, for whatever reason, to repressive regimes, and help their populace find better ways to route around such restrictions.

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