"An Expectation Of Unlimited Internet Access During A Pandemic Is Not Realistic"

The talk of WhatToDo is years old, and the predicted problems are an expected eventuality in a time of severe pandemic-related crisis, but it's still a shattering idea to think that you could be isolated in your home, during a thousands-dying-a-day flu pandemic, and you might not be reach the sites you trust to tell you the truth of what's happening.

From Reuters :

....the Homeland Security Department accused the GAO of having unrealistic expectations of how the Internet could be managed if millions began to telework from home at the same time as bored or sick schoolchildren were playing online, sucking up valuable bandwidth.

Experts have for years pointed to the potential problem of Internet access during a severe pandemic, which would be a unique kind of emergency. It would be global, affecting many areas at once, and would last for weeks or months, unlike a disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake.

Private Internet providers might need government authorization to block popular websites, it said, or to reduce residential transmission speeds to make way for commerce.

The Department of Homeland Security appears to have next to fuck all to address the chaos of "internet congestion."

"An expectation of unlimited Internet access during a pandemic is not realistic."

More From Reuters Here

As far as bandwith problems go, one of the first sites you would expect to get blocked to ease "congestion" would be YouTube, which would have the no doubt desirable bonus effect of keeping a whole lot of horrific pandemic-related clips from reaching the rest of the country, or the world.


.