As communications become increasingly important to online life, and political expression, Homeland Security and law enforcement wield powerful new tools to regulate the signal and control the masses, particularly during crises. Lawsuits by the Electronic Privacy Information Center have hinged around disclosure of a secret plan that gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the ability to cut cell service and black out communications across entire cities, or on specific areas. How extensively the plan has been developed remains unknown, as legal action so far has failed to declassify the digital tool of mass control. via Ars Technica:
The Supreme Court is setting aside a petition from the Electronic Privacy Information Center that demanded the Department of Homeland Security release the US government’s secret plan to shutter mobile phone service during disasters. … ruling that the DHS did not have to divulge the full contents of Standard Operating Procedure 303. That court held that… disclosure would “endanger” public safety. Under the direction of the so-called National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, SOP 303 allows for the shutting down of wireless networks “within a localized area, such as a tunnel or bridge, and within an entire metropolitan area.” … Local governments, however, have the power to shutter wireless service regardless of SOP 303. FULL REPORT