Bush Prepares for Possible GPS Shutdown

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:v1Cwd.276204$R05.193754@attbi_s53...

But there are only a few dozen major computer networks providing the
backbone of the internet in the U.S. This is all speculation, of course,
but I would bet you ten bucks that there is an NSA task force whose main
job
is to maintain the capability of (a) monitoring (b) defending, and (c)
disabling these networks, as needed.

Could they take down the whole internet? No. But could they prevent 90%
of
Americans from seeing the internet? You bet -- at least for a time.
--


In the late 1980s the military split off from the Internet and onto what, I
believe, they call Mil-net. However, I wonder how much of Mil-net (routers,
backbone, etc.) is truly seperate from the Internet. Since there are always
bugs in software/hardware (especially if it has never been tested as is the
case in shutting down the Internet) I would expect that a shutdown of the
Internet will have totally unanticipated effects on the military networks.
Since so much of society is now interwoven into the Internet we probably
will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we shutdown the Internet in a time
of crisis.

Earl G

"Earl Grieda" wrote in message
nk.net...

....snip...
I would expect that a shutdown of the
Internet will have totally unanticipated effects on the military networks.
Since so much of society is now interwoven into the Internet we probably
will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we shutdown the Internet in a
time
of crisis.


The infrastructures of society evolve slowly and do so with great inertia.
It is not easy to change direction quickly without unanticipated effect.

For example, trying to make a "sudden" move away from air travel after 9-11
caused a spike in automobile deaths. 1000 people more than normal died on
the roads in just the three months following (
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles...392244&cat=1_7 )
..

Any big infrastructure change.... whether closing the internet or closing
down the GPS system or moving away from an automobile-oriented society....
will certainly be "shooting ourselves in the foot", if done suddenly. So
the reasons for doing it have to be huge.

So also, are the reasons for trying to foresee where the current
infrastructures *should* be changing.... (power usage and/or power
generation, for one example)... so that their evolution can be planned, or
at least anticipated. It's gonna take a long time to get there.

Chris Gumm posted:

a link to a reporter's screwup.

Try this one instead -
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...1216space.html

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

When Selective Availability was disabled in the Clinton administration,
regional disruption of the GPS signal was the stated
"back-up"/"alternative". This is not new news in the least.

Dave

Chris Gumm wrote:

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...&w=APO&coview=

Dave S wrote:

When Selective Availability was disabled in the Clinton administration,
regional disruption of the GPS signal was the stated
"back-up"/"alternative". This is not new news in the least.

I've read of this before. But I don't see how it could be done regionally
w/o using something like jamming. Do the satellites have the ability to
block their signal to regions?

- Andrew

"Andrew Gideon" wrote in message
online.com...
Dave S wrote:

When Selective Availability was disabled in the Clinton administration,
regional disruption of the GPS signal was the stated
"back-up"/"alternative". This is not new news in the least.

I've read of this before. But I don't see how it could be done regionally
w/o using something like jamming. Do the satellites have the ability to
block their signal to regions?

Individual satellites could be shut down, effectively blanking out large
regions.

Andrew,

But I don't see how it could be done regionally
w/o using something like jamming. Do the satellites have the ability to
block their signal to regions?


No, they don't. Yes, "in-theater-jamming" is the solution.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

"Chris Gumm" wrote in message
...

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...&w=APO&coview=

I am not sure why this is news. It has been policy since before Bush was
President.

Howdy!

That post would have been so much more informative if it included
even a brief executive summary of the article referenced. A one
line synopsis would have had some value.

Some of us read our news with a character based reader, and visiting
a link requires cut and paste into a web browser. I don't use a web
broswer to read email or news; these are not, fundamentally, web
applications. They are plain text applications.

yours,
Michael


--
Michael and MJ Houghton | Herveus d'Ormonde and Megan O'Donnelly
| White Wolf and the Phoenix
Bowie, MD, USA | Tablet and Inkle bands, and other stuff
| http://www.radix.net/~herveus/wwap/

Michael Houghton wrote:

That post would have been so much more informative if it included
even a brief executive summary of the article referenced.

It doesn't matter - the article is BS anyway.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.