GAO suggests shutting down InterTubes during Flu Pandemic to protect Wall Street

[TalkingDog]

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d108.pdf

October 2009
INFLUENZA PANDEMIC

Key Securities Market Participants Are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet Congestion and Encourage Readiness
Highlights of GAO-10-8, a report to congressional requesters.

Increased demand during a severe pandemic could exceed the capacities of Internet providers’ access networks for residential users and interfere with teleworkers in the securities market and other sectors, according to a DHS study and providers (see figure below). Private Internet providers have limited ability to prioritize traffic or take other actions that could assist critical teleworkers. Some actions, such as reducing customers’ transmission speeds or blocking popular Web sites, could negatively impact e-commerce and require government authorization. However, DHS has not developed a strategy to address potential Internet congestion or worked with federal partners to ensure that sufficient authorities to act exist. It also has not assessed the feasibility of conducting a campaign to obtain public cooperation to reduce nonessential Internet use to relieve congestion. DHS also has not begun coordinating with other federal and private sector entities to assess other actions that could be taken or determine what authorities may be needed to act.


/snip
cross posted from Stock Market Watch

[abelenkpe]

1. huh?

That's crazy. Isn't it?

[Tesha]

3. If Captain Trips gets to the point that they've declared martial law and are burning bodies...

in pits, they naturally won't want you to know about it
and *CERTAINLY* not be talking about it!

It won't just be some crazy radio lady talk-show host
up in Maine that the government will be squelching.

Tesha

[TalkingDog]

5. Well, depends on which side of the tin foil you are on.

If they shut down the tubes, wing-nuts will scream that the New World Order is about to be imposed.

Or if you are on the Naomi Wolf side of "Shock and Awe", then they are protecting the market from close scrutiny in order to finish the pillaging.

Or if you are on what ever side is suggesting that it's all to the benefit of the rich and to the detriment of the poor, I'd have to say that's probably closest to what I think, whether there is malign intention or not.

And even tho it looks like you've been here a while: Welcome to DU!

[cdsilv]

2. How about beefing up the infrastructure to prevent congestion! n/t

[Billy Burnett]

4. Stockholders don't want the overhead of extra capacity. Dividends. Dividends. Dividends. Dividends.

Profit trumps all else in a corporotocracy.

[TalkingDog]

8. Stop being sensible. n/t

[lapfog_1]

6. So, a flu pandemic that takes months to materialize

will suddenly overwhelm the internet with traffic?

But a terrorist attack on the largest city (or earthquake or hurricane) will not?

Somebody is smoking some good shit over at DHS.

Personally, I suspect that there are dozens to hundreds of "moles" left behind by the bushies... people hired into civil service jobs by political appointees who themselves have a radical right agenda. And they produce this kind of crap every so often. Rooting them out and getting rid of them will be near impossible with the civil service rules on firing employees.

This person inside DHS is arguing to get rid of net neutrality because of the need to allow the public access to flu tracker or something. "providers have limited ability to prioritize traffic" is the operative phrase... so obviously we need to pass legislation to ALLOW providers to prioritize traffic... just in case.

The Obama administration needs to find the authors of this, promote them, and station them in Antarctica to study the progress of the flu pandemic at extreme latitudes.

[TheWraith]

7. A lot of political appointees were made into civil service jobs after the fact.

And yes, this is going to be an ongoing problem for many years, possibly decades.

[mullard12ax7]

9. Markets get shut down whenever reality hits

It allows the market-makers like Goldman, J.P. Morgan etc...to avoid losses and rig the markets effectively when the markets open up again. "Free markets" = lie.

[Javaman]

10. But if the Intertubes are shut down, traffic will come to a complete halt on the freeways!!!

think about it.