Posted on 06/07/2010 9:29:58 PM PDT by oc-flyfish
This is pretty scary stuff. The Federal government is ready to seize control of private company networks in order to "protect" us in the event of a hacker attack.
This is like saying in case of Terror Attacks coming from the border with Mexico, the government will be taking over the guns and the situation...
Canada
ah, yes! The old BBS! I’m well acquainted with that, as my phone bill was phenomenal and I was really glad when it went the way of the dinasour. But you’re right! It shouldn’t take much for someone to learn how to use something like the bluewave reader or some such program to log in and get back in the saddle. I think it would be pretty hard for the gummint to shut down the BBS’s, much harder than shutting down the internet. But I don’t know for sure. They would have to shut down all phone service. Maybe ham would be the way to go after all.
"Cloud computing" is a newly invented name for an old method where you store all your data on someone else's servers. This is the worst possible solution for anyone who values privacy. Also, those servers (there are just a few) can be ordered offline at any time, and then you have nothing.
For example, imagine that you use Google Groups for general discussion, Google Mail for direct communication and Google Documents for specific papers. All your data is on Google's servers, you have no locally saved copies (usually.) Now Google is offline, or your account is disabled (all of that happened several times already.) You are in trouble, isolated from your contacts and robbed of all your documents and messages.
An opposite example is FreeNet. This is an experimental network that is designed for storage of documents on multiple computers (like p2p.) No single computer holds everything, and nobody knows where the data is actually stored - the network is designed to ferret the data out, but it won't tell you where it found it. So an attacker has no easy way to disrupt the network.
LOL...all I could think of was messaging via ‘pony express’...silly...but I felt exactly the way you did when this site went down. There’s got to be a way to remain organized and in touch.
Idiocy. Our Government gives up U.S. control of the Internet to world interests then freaks out about our security.
Ham is DEFINITELY a must for communication and we should probably get a group together in various places to be able to give information that the news might not pick up. But computers could be an option for a while.
The thing is, unless they take over the utility companies and/or wireless (which in a war or martial law is totally probable) they can only shut down servers.
Ok, off to doze and reflect on this. How to connect if phone or wireless is not available. Hmmmm
Think we should start a ham radio thread if there isn’t one already? I mean if we could get a few hundred, that ought to help some. I would love to get AmericaninTokyo in on this. He would be valuable to have in his area.
bump
Agreed, Kimberly. It's not a good feeling to be afloat with nobody in sight. Keep the thread going. Maybe even get some names and contacts for off-line discussion.
Ping!!!!!
Okay, then. Tomorrow.
Like we need another “government entity”.
Just like I need liver cancer or something.
Ha! I was thinking 2 steps back such as ‘phone trees’ and printing presses.
Ha! I was thinking 2 steps back such as ‘phone trees’ and printing presses.
So they think we computer people are too stupid to protect our own networks. Ok...
bfl
ruh-roh!
Hey, did anyone else notice their cell phones totally disconnecting from the web today for an hour?? Had several other people remark upon this, too.
They've been emboldened by the health care travesty and now they're going for the throat.
When FR goes down it's helpful to go there and see if others are experiencing the same trouble so you can rule out a problem with your computer.
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