Telecom Outages Now a State Secret 413
Saeed al-Sahaf writes "In the past, before negotiating important or large telecommunications contracts, you could check out the detailed network outage reports that large telecommunications carriers file with the FCC. By knowing where carriers had experienced problems, buyers can negotiate better service contracts and know where to plan on redundant services. As recently as last summer, the FCC championed the marketplace benefits of making outage data available to the public. But after more than a decade of making such carrier outage reports available to the public, the FCC in August ruled that the information will be kept secret, lest it fall into the hands of terrorists."
See also... (Score:5, Informative)
Important distinction (Score:5, Informative)
The fcc did not go so far as to prohibit all network vulnerability data from reaching the public--only that the information won't reach the public via the FCC.
Telco's are still free to provide the information and apparently they have competitive reasons to do so:
Lawyers who negotiate contracts for large enterprises agreed carriers that face meaningful competition will not be inclined to stop providing relevant data, including the cause of outages, to enterprises. Some said that even where competition is not robust, carriers have an interest in being candid with their largest customers.
Re:In Other News... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Just because... (Score:2, Informative)
Fom dictionary.com:
Moslem: Variant of Muslim
Re:Free Market? (Score:3, Informative)
Anybody remember exhoribitant long distance prices in the era of the government mandated telco monopoly?
I was too young to be the one paying the phone bills. But I *do* remember my parents complaining about having to lease the phone from Ma Bell and not being allowed to hook up a third-party telephone to the network. Thus the prices of physical phones was excessive, and the technology was stagnant.
Re:I am completely at a loss for words . . . (Score:2, Informative)
The worst case scenerio would be a bolt of lightning hitting the one of the power supplies to an exchange.
Time to move (Score:4, Informative)
I can't get this information if I wanted it for a good business reason? My name is: My birthday is: I am who I am, born here as my father, his father, and well back many a generation. I have to sign a non-disclosure agreement and pass a security check? Fine. I had to to legally carry a gun as well -- which is in itself understandable, but another bothersome issue that existed well before 9/11... (my concern would be war, invasion, and if _I_ was invading the first list to round up would be the gun carriers).
I thought it was also ridiculous that the phone company tries to hide and doesn't want to give me a list show all area codes and prefix and which band (A, B, C, or D) they're in. 15 years ago I could request a NAMP list (I think it was) and get it. 5 years ago they simply refused. I have VoIP now, which is tapped I'm sure, but I digress...
Re:A little knowledge is a dangerous thing... (Score:3, Informative)
When I lived in Peru in the late 80's Sendero Luminoso used to target Peru's sorry excuse for a phone system quite frequently. They tended to prefer to destroy the high tension power lines, but they would settle for the phone lines in a pinch. There was also quite a few instances of terrorists attacks on the public water system while I lived in Lima (including *gasp* the destruction of at least one smallish dam).
I don't really see why outages should be Top Secret information, other than it may show terrorists the weak points in our communications infrastructure, but there definitely have been cases where telephone systems have been targets of terrorism. The difference is that when terrorists blow up parts of the public works infrastructure in Huancayo, Peru it doesn't make international news.
I am personally opposed to most of the Patriot Act, but I saw enough terrorism in Peru to know that bridges, phone systems, power systems, and other basic infrastructure pieces are key terrorist targets in areas of the world where terrorists are more thoroughly organized. The destruction of the infrastructure is very demoralizing without being nearly as risky as large scale murder.
Re:RIP USA (Score:3, Informative)
Godwin's Law (also Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an adage in Internet culture that was originated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states that:
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
Sure (Score:4, Informative)
Could you please explain, in terms of the definition of fascism given by Wikipedia, why "the USA is rapidly becoming fascist"?
Sure I'll comment. If you point your browser to the Fascist mottos [wikipedia.org] listed on Wikipedia, you will se a few interesting statements that seem to fit current US government attitudes.
Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato, "Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State."
The US has pretty much had a divorce with the UN after invading Iraq. The intelligence leading to the Iraq invasion was unfounded and proven false. There were no WMDs; they lied to commit their military and hundreds of billions of dollars to fight a war over oil interests and to settle an old score. The recent Homeland Security measures, including the topic of making cell phone blackouts secret, is also is a throwback to this motto.
The Patriot Act appears to be in the spirit of the above motto, from start to finish.
Me ne frego, "I don't care," the Italian Fascist motto.
I think it's pretty heartless to attack a country for oil, don't you? It's pretty tactical and devoid of humanity to kill for resources, to kill for revenge.
Libro e moschetto - fascista perfetto, "Book and musket - perfect Fascist."
You could look [wikipedia.org] at the Christian doctrines of most Americans and see tones from the above motto in many news items regarding gun toting Christians [wikipedia.org]. Many American Christians are not over the top like Koresh was, but if you look at the attitudes after 9/11 on talk shows and news broadcasts, there was quite a bit of patriotism against muslim states such as Iraq and Iran.
Viva la Morte, "Long live death (sacrifice)."
I'm sure Bush has said something similar to this in every single one of his speeches.
The fact of the matter is, that when a state increases the power of its government over the freedom of its people, that state is moving toward the fascist model. When the state is more important than the liberties of the people, the state is no longer operating in the realm of the common good. When a president can usurp sovereignty by stealing an election [wikipedia.org], then there is cause to wonder if Democracy is alive anymore in the States. Maybe it's not fascism. Maybe it's not democracy. Maybe it's not feudalism. Maybe it's not communism. Maybe it's not tyranny. Maybe it's just corporatism, and the latest abomination.
Re:RIP USA (Score:2, Informative)