Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on calls to close off portions of the Internet in order to thwart terrorism.

"Yes sir, I am," Trump responded when asked by GOP debate moderator Wolf Blitzer if he was open to closing parts of the Internet.

"I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people who want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet," Trump said. "ISIS is using the Internet better than we are using the Internet and it was our idea."

When Sen. Rand Paul argued that "that entails getting rid of the First Amendment," Trump backtracked somewhat. "I'm not talking about closing the Internet," he said. "You could close it. But what I like even better than that is getting our smartest, and getting our best to infiltrate their Internet, so that we know exactly where they're going, exactly where [ISIS is] going to be."

That comment was met with boos in the Las Vegas auditorium, to which Trump responded, "you're objecting to us infiltrating their conversations? I don't think so."

There is, of course, a difference between shutting down the Internet and spying on terrorists. The U.S. already monitors online chatter and has reportedly spied on foreign governments using cyber attacks, from China to Iran and vice versa. When it comes to cutting off access to the Internet, however, that type of activity has largely been limited to repressive regimes, like China and its Great Firewall and Egypt during the Arab Spring in 2011.

This line of questioning was directed at Trump after he said during a recent campaign event that he wanted to look at "maybe in certain areas closing that Internet up in some way," in reference to ISIS recruiting followers online.

Encryption

Trump and his other GOP rivals were also asked about encryption. The FBI and Silicon Valley have been at odds on this issue after mobile operating system makers like Google and Apple turned encryption on by default, making it difficult for the feds to monitor discussions on devices running newer versions of iOS and Android, for example. It made headlines again recently after reports said that the Paris terrorists used encrypted app Telegram to communicate.

"We should be able to figure out a way to penetrate the Internet and find out exactly where ISIS is and everything about ISIS," Trump said, "and we can do that if we use our good people."

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, meanwhile, argued that "the government is woefully behind" the tech curve.

When asked if companies like Apple and Google should be forced to hand over encrypted data, Fiorina said "they do not need to be forced, they need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO [of HP]. I complied happily, they will, too. But they have not been asked."

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Fiorina did not elaborate on what constitutes being asked, but Silicon Valley and the feds have certainty been publicy discussing this issue.

"Do we want our nation to be secure? Of course," Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the Wall Street Journal's WSJD Live conference in October. He disagreed that there has to be a trade-off between security and privacy. "I don't think you have to pick among very important things," he said. "Very smart people can figure out how to have both."

Also in October, meanwhile, Google said it remains "firmly committed to encryption because it helps keep users safe and secure on the Web."

Fiorina also reiterated that she assisted the National Security Agency (NSA) after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. "I stopped a truckload of equipment, and I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters," she said.

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