Posted on 10/29/2009 9:34:35 PM PDT by mlizzy
(NaturalNews) The US government has issued a new report that recommends blocking access to popular websites during a pandemic outbreak in order to preserve internet bandwidth for investors, day traders and securities clearing house operations. The concern is that a pandemic would cause too many people to stay at home and download YouTube videos and porn, hogging all the internet bandwidth and blocking throughput for investment activities, thereby causing a stock market meltdown.
This isn't an April Fool's joke. It's all based on a public report issued by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), available from their website at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d108.pdf
In this article, I'm going to explain how a pandemic outbreak could theoretically bring down Wall Street. But to get to that, you'll first need to find out what the GAO said in its curious report (see below). Parts of this article are presented as satire, but the underlying facts quoted here are all true and verifiable (links are provided to all sources).
This report in question is entitled, "GAO Report to Congressional Requesters, INFLUENZA PANDEMIC" and includes this subtitle: Key Securities Market Participants Are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet Congestion and Encourage Readiness.
(Excerpt) Read more at naturalnews.com ...
Oh, nonsense! There was a time, not too long ago, when the Internet was somewhat 'fragile', that even having a text forum chat with a famous celebrity was a big deal and would lock out many users due to limited bandwidth. Since then its bandwidth backbone has grown in leaps and bounds and can now support high bandwidth content such as video and live streaming.
And besides, from a cultural perspective, isn't that exactly what the policy wonks in DC have always wanted? For us all to be opiated by mindless entertainment while they chip away at our God given freedoms?
What a bunch of bunk!
-- MM
This is not one bit surprising. Any excuse to stop our free speech. I have a shortwave radio in case they ban talk radio, too.
The list, ping
HOw bad could the flu be if they can sit at home and watch porn? They could do that at the office like they always do!
Bump for later Friday reading
This means that for three hours each day during Rush’s show, there will be too much band width being used, so they will cut his show off...
I have been sick for two days and I have curtailed my bandwithy thingy.
Been sleeping and didn’t feel like being online much.
It sounds like they’re scared to death of non sick people freaking out and communicating with each other while the sick ones are incapacitated. Do they think communication on the net would be worse than during and after 9/11 or what?
That’s what I’m saying, this isn’t directed toward those who are sick..it’s preventing the healthy from communicating. (But why?)
Seriously now, I think all this and the man made swine flu is just a betta test. One day, when they fix all the glitches, they'll hit us with everything all at once.
I had a little bit of pork for dinner in celebration.
Hopefully, feel better in the morning and will have a BLT, even though I don’t really eat swine. I am doing so in protest and in hopes that it will cure me.
I hope not... I just can’t believe internet traffic would be worse than 9/11.
build you own private network if its that important
Indicates fear and desperation, IMO. Create an emergency and block communication. Must be frustrating that the ‘swine flu’ won’t co-operate. What’s next? A ‘terrorist’ attack maybe?
I had it a couple of weeks ago...I was hardly on the computer at all for a few days. I was too puny, sleepy, achy and prone to chills to want to sit at the keyboard.
Well, the rationale they’re using is for the entirety of the world’s financial markets, so basically anything produced.
But it’s a straw man on top of a straw man. All that goes on on separate networks. I’m a US treasury trader, and we have a completely separate fiber connection to the exchange.
So even if you could flood the internet, it wouldn’t affect the exchanges. I might not be able to log on to my Ameritrade (Scottrade, etc) account from my home internet connection to sell Google or whatever, but the vast majority of trading doesn’t touch the internet.
And of course, the image of this incredibly fragile and crowded internet is a joke. Iphones might lag if everyone jumped on the 3G cell networks at once, but the communications companies laid so much fiber from the 90s up until now that we’re not going to run out of capacity because people are home sick.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.