The US Government had a Cyber Patriot Act prepared for the Internet in 2008

Source: https://youtu.be/on4DPpN7GwQ?si=fp7WVfosEEsvJ0et&t=104

Former Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig: "There's going to be an i-9/11 event. Which doesn't mean an Al Qaeda event, it means an event where the instability or the insecurity of the internet becomes manifest, some major malicious event which then inspires the government into a response. If you remember, after 9/11, the government dropped the Patriot Act within about 20 days and it was passed."

"So I had dinner once, Richard Clarke was at the table and I said to him is there an equivalent? Is there an i-Patriot Act just sitting waiting for some substantial event for them come in and have the excuse for radically changing the way the internet works? He said 'of course there is.'"