[Gllug] Shutdown of the Internet in the UK? - OT
Xander D Harkness
xander at harkness.co.uk
Fri Dec 27 12:38:12 UTC 2002
The call has already gone out to employers who have employees on the
Armed Forces Reserve list.
When you leave the forces you remain on the reserve list for six years.
You are issued with combats and Numbers twos which you are bound to keep
in good order for this period.
The UK has a very strong grip on the print and televised media in this
country. There are a lot of events relating to Northern Ireland which
are newsworthy but not printed in mainland Britain due to suppression
of the press, this is just one area where the UK government believes
that it is in its best interest to restrict information.
I am concerned that the UK government is scared of the information
freely available on the Internet and in the escalation of the impending
conflict will possibly seek to close this down.
In many respects the seeds for this have already been sown. There has
been considerable talk about how terrorists have used encryption and
the internet to plan events. The government could suggest to the few
ISPs that they do not have enough staff to continue following the call
up of reserves. The government could also suggest that terrorists
plotting against the British public are using the Internet and that in
everyone's interest it should be shutdown temporarily.
The government has refused to debate this possible conflict with other
members of the government, if it refuses to consult within the elected
members I see very little hope of it listening to the public.
My point (eventually) is that as there are only a few ISPs in the UK and
if these were shutdown is there an alternative?
There is the consume network; however that does not provide full
coverage of London, even ignoring the rest of the country.
I was thinking that in many respects it would be a return to the old
Internet where a few hubs would dialup to one another to dump mail.
Distributed networks such as freenet would not work as they require a
permanent connection and the data would quickly fade.
If you instantly think paranoia also think about laws such as the RIP
bill parts of which are not possible to implement and which was abused
the government departments far inexcess of the concerns I expressed to
my MP, which he poo pooed.
Have fun
Xander
--
You have a strong desire for a home and your family interests come first.
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