Y2K And The Internet

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Ontario 2000 : One Thread


LETTER FROM Y2K TASK FORCE - USA FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



-- Gary (njarc@ica.net), December 09, 1998

Answers

Hi Gary,

Community linking sites seem a great idea, but will the web function if there are power or satellite glitches?

-- Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D (lifeweb@igc.org), January 12, 1999.


Elisabet,

From what I understand, and I am not a Y2K expert, is that you must have all three of the following: electrical power, a working telephone line or cable hook-up and a compliant internet service provider.

The internet was designed in such a way to handle disruptions in any given area in any given time. It was originally engineered as a viable communications medium to thwart problems created by national emergencies. Nuclear war, earthquakes, floods and the like which knock out the core infra-structure in a large area.

The web actually got it's moniker from being designed like a spiders web. One section can be brought down, yet maintains some semblance of structural integrity while re-routing signals ( vibrations in the case of the spider ).

If you do have those three ingredients to stay connected to the web, you will only be able to communicate to people who likewise have those three vitals working and then, only if there aren't gross link breakage between points.

You can actually obtain software which can trace the route of an email note you send to a friend across the country. You would be surprised to learn that the route was overloaded and had to be re- routed via Europe or Asia. After all, it is in fact, a virtual net of countless inter-connected transfer points. A large file will even be broken up and re-assembled at the receipt point. Quite amazing!

I predict that in the first few days of January.2000, many people will be trying to connect to family and associate via internet to ask how they're doing. There could be many returned notes saying the message can't be delivered. The net isn't down. It's one or a combination of power, telephone \ cable or non-compliant server which isn't there operational.

The net may have a lot of holes in it come Year 2000 but there will be strains still connected ( abet overloaded ) trying to handle the traffic.

If any tech guys would like to jump in here and pull me out of a very complicated subject, feel free.

-- Gary Allan Halonen (njarc@ica.net), January 12, 1999.


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