How The Government Signs Off The Internet

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The federal government shut down for the first time in 17 years at midnight on Tuesday.

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This shutdown is rather unprecedented - not only because of the nature of the fight between the two parties, but also because this is the first shutdown in the era of the modern Internet and social media.

This is how USA.gov, the official site for government services, put out notice:

gov shutdown notice

USA.gov

Various government agencies posted messages like this one from the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

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USDA shutdown notice

USDA.gov

And in the age of social media, almost all government agencies signed off on Twitter. Most of them did so with a message similar to this one, from NASA:

nasa tweet shutdown

Twitter/@NASA

Here's another version, from the Department of Agriculture:

doa tweet

Twitter/@USDA

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There is at least one site, though, that's still up and running. And coincidentally, it's the subject that both parties are fighting about:

Screen shot 2013 10 01 at 9.03.11 AM

Healthcare.gov