The Kill Switch

Following the terrorist attack in London yesterday, Donald Trump made another one of his moronic comments about shutting down the internet (link here).

This echoes similar comments he's been making for at least two years. Back in December 2015, for instance, he had more draconian proposals about closing down the internet and mocked those with First Amendment objections (details here).

While the freedom of speech threats indeed are troubling because they illustrate Trump's mindset when it comes to respecting the Constitution, on a more fundamental level, this demonstrates how he's completely clueless about the basics of ordinary life.

From a technological standpoint, there is no giant kill switch than can be flipped for the internet. It's a highly decentralized yet infinitely complex system.

Even if it was technically possible, shutting down the internet would throw international commerce into a panic and the economic effects would be horrific. Countless billions in transactions are processed daily online.

Trump's supporters are saying that he "really meant" to cut off internet only to terrorists. While technologically impossible, it is also logistically impossible, too -- how would you know who was a sleeper terrorist in order to cut off his service?

Now it's always possible Trump made this remark just to troll people. If that's so, what value is there in the United States President deliberately making himself look like a fool?