|
North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Keeping the lines of communication open
As things have slowed down, I've had a chance to read some of the other threads. These are my personal opinions. I've been an observer of communications through several wars, bombings and natural disasters over the last 12 years. And sometimes I've been very close to disasters, and worked as a volunteer. There have been several threads about turning off communications, taking action against communication providers perceived as supporting the enemy, or how the attackers used the freedom of communications against us. I propose, even if the attackers used our own communications, in fact by maintaining communication service we may have helped save more lives. Instead of cutting off communications, the best response is to keep as much operating as possible. Yes, its possible the terrorists might be using the circuit, but it is also possible the link is rescue effort or even a person trying to get a warning out. Dubbing the voice of the spokespeople associated with the terrorists may be a symbolic gesture. Cell phones and air phones allowed passengers call loved ones and authorities, but also kept the passengers informed about the other attacks in progress which may have changed what they did. Things might have been different if technical measures prevented passengers from using cell phones on airlines, or if cell phone providers had blocked those calls. Immediately after the attacks, communications once again helped victims and rescuers. Cell phones and e-mail were used before and after the towers collapsed. Rescue efforts are continuing by trying to locate beepers and cell phones of the victims. Network traffic went up, and many of the news sites had initial problems. Sites like Google, Yahoo, and ISPs mirrored information from the major news sites on local web sites. Although it may be a technical violation of the DMCA, several people simulcasted radio, television, even close captioning over the net. Although we'd like to think the government has better communications links such as NAWAS, in practice the commercial communications links carry most of the information and informed the public and even public officials. One of the problems with government communications, is no one has enough clearance to know the whole story, so the public communication networks often serve as the primary information source even within government. Its not a coincidence that every Emergency Operations Center watches the commercial news networks. The USA has maintained communication links with Cuba, USSR, even Hitler (invoking Godwin's law) through both cold and hot wars. I'm sure some people will say this is somehow different. But a hundred years of electronic communications, and a thousand years of communications has shown in almost every case the country which seal itself off from communications with the outside world has eventually destroyed itself. Propaganda may be a concern, but history shows its hard to fool all the people all the time. Propaganda works best when there isn't an alternative source of truthful information. One reason why countries acting as hosts for terrorists try to limit communications is outside information sources makes their internal propaganda less effective.
|