Open Thread--This Freaks Me Out

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Apparently, we have been warned and I have NOT been paying attention.

We Have Been Warned

"How will you know when the "cyber Pearl Harbor" has occurred? When the lights and heat in your home go off. When you can't make a phone call. When no ATM works. When your flight cannot land."

Is this why all of those people are hoarding stuff? Why they're making shows about "Doomsday Preppers?" I had no idea, but that is the least of my worries. I take it that we'll all be forced to speak to people in our own vicinity should such an event occur, I don't know that I could survive that. Does anyone know much about HAM radio?

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Well I live in TX...

priceman's picture

and that is not a good scenario, but we did speak to our neighbors. There is a kind of bond when something like that happens but it still sucks. Hurricane Ike left us without power for about a month. I would be moving North if it happened permanently. But I hate talking on the phone so no loss there, except when it's for a specific purpose.

It is pretty stupid that we have literally no manual overrides on anything as if this power train is going to keep coming. I love the new show Revolution and a solar flare could knock out all power. It is a scary scenario, cyber Pearl Harbor could more easily be fixed I would think though still pretty bad. Without this infrastructure the Oligarchs in this country would have nothing, so it would be in their interest to use their resources to fix it. It would be better if it was fixed and that bill was passed, but not quite as doomsday as the disaster TV shows we are seeing.

Anyway if you haven't before all VOTS please vote for my piece in the anti-Citizens United contest.

Thank you!

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yeah...

triv33's picture

I know it could happen, but imagine if we got zapped and suddenly we were all just unable to communicate with each other...wtf? that would blow.

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You know, if there's anything....

ratmach's picture

.... to this "end of the world" stuff scheduled for late December, I'd say it's something like this. A "self-fulfilling prophesy" as it were. Hackers figure out someway to take down power grids, communications networks, satellite comm, etc. From what I hear, it wouldn't take a really broad-based attack. More like just hit the weak points in a certain sequence, and a chain reaction, a technological meltdown begins.

Guess we'll know before long...

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My take on Executive control of the Internet (the Kill Switch)

aigeanta's picture

There are a ton of defense industry contractors who are going to get a bunch of money if this sort of legislation is passed. And, a huge new bureaucracy will be built to monitor the critical infrastructure, which will often be arbitrarily chosen, since a router could count as critical and that list is going to change from hour to hour. Some of the original legislation was dubbed the 'Kill Switch' bill because it would give the government the authority to shut down private infrastructure if the risk was deemed too great, according to nebulously stated definitions. I wrote a critical analysis of the Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act of 2011 if you'd like to read more.

I would also like to add, events since that time, such as the defeated SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy legislation, and the federal raid on Megaupload, amongst other things, lead me to believe that some of this sort of legislation is linked to special interests in the copyright industry.

Overall, any sort of noise about controlling the internet tends to lead to some well-monied stakeholders, and does little to actually solve the root problem. I've heard other suggestions that make a lot more sense. I think this is probably worth a research project and grant.

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