North American Network Operators Group

Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical

Re: London incidents

  • From: Mark Newton
  • Date: Tue Jul 12 05:51:01 2005

On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 10:57:55PM -0400, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:

 > In message <[email protected]>, Bill Nash writes:
 > >Would the folks posting news related events please footnote source URLS, 
 > >especially if arguing over factual details?
 > 
 > http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39150177,00.htm
 > has what Sean was referring to.

Then we have this:
http://us.cnn.com/2005/US/07/11/tunnels.cell.phones.ap/index.html

  "The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area
  transit hubs, bridges and tunnels, decided last Thursday to
  indefinitely sever power to transmitters providing wireless
  service in the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, spokesman Tony
  Ciavolella said Monday."
    [ ... ]

  "The Department of Homeland Security said the decision in New York
  to cut off cellular service was made without any recommendation by
  the federal government's National Communications System, which
  ensures communications are available during national emergencies."

I gotta say, this is pretty typical of the lack of coordination and
actual rational thought that goes into reacting to security incidents.

There's been -nothing- from the Brits to say that cellphones were
involved in their explosions;  And DHS says they haven't made any
recommendations one way or the other;  And there's no reason to 
believe that the threat to the New York subway system is any higher
than usual;  And yet someone at the Port Authority has made a
unilateral decision to shut off the cells, and now if there -is- a
real emergency nobody can call 911.

Breathtaking.

  - mark

-- 
Mark Newton                               Email:  [email protected] (W)
Network Engineer                          Email:  [email protected]  (H)
Internode Systems Pty Ltd                 Desk:   +61-8-82282999
"Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton"  Mobile: +61-416-202-223