RE: Switching off the net.

["Trei, Peter" <ptrei@securitydynamics.com>]

> ----------
> From: 	John A. Limpert[SMTP:johnl@radix.net]
> Reply To: 	John A. Limpert
> Sent: 	Sunday, June 27, 1999 3:39 AM
> To: 	Edwin E. Smith
> Cc: 	cypherpunks@toad.com
> Subject: 	Re: Switching off the net.
> 
> "Edwin E. Smith" wrote:
>  
> > In another list, sombody brought up the idea that the government
> > might switch off or disable the internet. I was wondering about how
> > difficult this might be and also how much redundancy is out there if
> > a nuke were to go off in say Atlanta, GA.
> > 
> > Does anybidy have any thoughts about this?
> 
> They could shutdown the major US routing centers without much
> difficulty. Chasing down all of the leased lines, satellite links and
> microwave links would be tough. They would have to shutdown the
> telephone system if they wanted to prevent dialup modem connections.
> Then there are the amateur radio operators with HF/VHF/UHF packet radio
> links. 
> 
> This would cause immense disruption to the economy. They are too many
> businesses that are heavily dependent on telecommunications. Many
> organizations that used to run private networks have shifted over to the
> Internet.
> 
> The last time something like this happened was World War II. Amateur
> radio operations were suspended, international mail was monitored and
> censored, international telephone calls and cable traffic were
> monitored. There was a significant domestic counterintelligence program
> but I haven't been able to find many details about it.
> 
Actually, if a power group is faced with a choice of
totally losing control, or taking a significant, albeit
temporary resource hit, they'll take the hit.

It's happened much more recently than WW2. In the 
early 1980s, the Polish military decided to crack down
on the Solidarity labor movement. The first sign that
anything was going on was that the entire civilian
phone system was turned off. It remained off until the 
tyrant thought it had re-consolidated control.

Peter Trei

	[I apologize for the lousy formatting of this 
	message. I am using a Microsoft mail client].