General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We've moved into a new category...Treason [View all]KY_EnviroGuy
(14,480 posts)The world had not yet witnessed a massive cyber attacked that could bring a nation to its knees overnight, and I have no doubt Russia and possibly other international players have that capability. Some nations have even claimed to have an internet "kill switch" to prevent a massive external attack, but the effectiveness of that is dubious.
Just like with nuclear weapons as a deterrent, those players know we can counter-attack and bring them down with us - and I doubt if anyone wants that to happen. But, just as with nuclear, there's always the possibility of rogue players in the mix.
There's also the point that defenses against cyber attacks are a mix of private and government semi-protections - somewhat different from military defenses and deterrents.
So relatively, we might say that we're now in a cyber cold war and heaven forbid if we're ever in a "hot' one. That event could also escalate into a full-blown conventional military conflict.
Wouldn't it be wise for Congress to pass some legislation that clarifies what constitutes war in the non-traditional sense? I think lines must be drawn to prevent abuse of treason claims - perhaps by the USSC - so that in the case of a fascist, totalitarian administration (like Trump would prefer), that massive numbers of people could not be charged with treason from dubious or fabricated digital evidence.
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