Topic: The Coming Internet Lockdown
OK, I believe I have just read the single most ludicrous "news" article I have ever seen. Check this out:
Flu pandemic could choke Internet, requiring usage restrictions
Expected surge in online traffic puts telework plans at riskFebruary 12, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Many companies and government agencies are counting on legions of teleworkers to keep their operations running in the event of an influenza pandemic. But those plans may quickly fall apart as millions of people turn to the Internet for news and even entertainment, potentially producing a bandwidth-choking surge in online traffic.
Such a surge would almost certainly prompt calls to restrict or prioritize traffic, such as blocking video transmissions wherever possible, according to business continuity planners who gathered on Friday at a SunGard Availability Systems hot-site facility in northern New Jersey to consider the impact of a pandemic on the Internet.
Businesses as well as home users likely would be asked to voluntarily restrict high-bandwidth traffic, the planners said. And if asking didn't work, they warned, government action to restrict traffic might well follow.
"Is there a need for a YouTube during a national emergency?" asked John Thomas, vice president of enterprise systems at a large, New York-based financial institution that he asked not be identified.
Whether the avian flu will morph into a human pandemic is unclear. But if it does, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of deaths could result worldwide. To try to limit a pandemic's spread, many people will seek to work from home. Consequently, "the demand for communication will soar," said Renate Noone, vice president of professional services at SunGard's Availability Services unit.
[and it goes on and on .... ]
Complete article: http://www.computerworld.com/action/art … geNumber=2
It's so outrageous that it's funny. Millions of people are routinely sharing terabytes of audio, VIDEO, software and whatever else via BitTorrent every minute of every day. And yet this author actually has the gall to suggest that a few thousand people working from home, which doesn't require much more bandwidth than web surfing, could somehow lead to an internet traffic jam.
And, of course, they'll be working from home due to ... drum roll ... BIRD FLU !!! 
This just keeps getting "dumb and dumberer." My GOD.
