Jul12010
BREAKING NEWS: The Internet shuts down
image by codiceinternet
No, the Internet is still up and running as I write, but Congress is working to pass a bill that would give the President the option of shutting down civilian online access. That shut-down could last for months according the the currently written bill. As with everything Congress does, this bill is up to its ears in politics, and I have to question the sanity of the individuals who wrote this bill and are promoting it.
Since when is any emergency or disaster made better with less information? In a crisis, whether it’s the health of a family member or a natural disaster, everyone involved wants a steady stream of accurate and current information. It scares me to think that our nation’s leaders want the option of shutting down our single most important source of news and that they think it’s a good idea!
One must conclude that the only news that would be allowable in an extreme crisis, as defined by the President, would come from officially sanctioned sources. That is hardly comforting.
So how does this apply to our community of SurvivalMoms and Dads? At a practical, survival level, consider how such an event would impact your life and plan accordingly. Do you have hard copies of important documents stored on your computer? Do you have some cash on hand in case online banking becomes inaccessible? Do you have a printed copy of important telephone numbers? I discovered that all mine are stored on my cell phone or my computer. For a while, I didn’t even have a phone book in the house!
In what other ways would a loss of the Internet impact your life? Over the next week or two pay attention to your dependence on the World Wide Web and think about what you can do now if our President should ever decide that some crisis or another calls for him to hit the cut-off switch.
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Stephen Clay McGehee
The sheer stupidity of this "plan" just boggles the mind. You spelled out why it is a bad idea in clear and simple terms, but it is apparently beyond the comprehension of politicians. Even worse, it is beyond the understanding of those political sycophants who still believe that big government is the answer.
In addition to shutting down all private news sources (how convenient for tyrants!), it would so completely shut down commerce that it would immediately push our economy over the edge. That they would even consider this demonstrates that they have zero understanding of how the real world operates. My own business, for one, would be completely shut down – nothing, pack it up and close the doors.
The fact that our society is so completely dependent on the internet is reason enough to pay very close attention to what The Survival Mom is all about. The efficiencies that the web has made possible for business do not allow for a "Plan B". There simply is no backup plan. If the web goes down, then virtually all commerce goes down, with the possible exception of bartering at the local farmer's market.
Thanks again for a great preparedness resource!
Joni Thoreau
Maybe people should form alternatives to the internet in case SHTF. Like a phone tree, a text tree, to pass on information. Each person phone texts 5 or 10 people and so on. People could report what is happening in their location to others across the country. There are some broadcasters such as Alex Jones that you can still pick up on shortwave radio. There is Ham radio, which can carry long distances if necessary, and there are CB radio and walkie talkies. We still have a set that can broadcast on several different channels. As a last resort, we can use smoke signals or carrier pigeons.
TheSurvivalMom
I've been thinking a lot about carrier pigeons. Seriously! Years ago I had a friend who raised them. There's a whole group of people out there who do this, race their pigeons, and earn some pretty hefty cash prizes. If the internet did shut down or an EMP wiped out communication systems, carrier pigeons would be in high demand. No kidding!
roryn3kids
I'm no expert, but I don't know if thats even possible. The internet was designed as a grid that could keep running even if big sections of it are destroyed. If small groups decided to fire up their servers and connect to other small groups, how would the goverment know? I have more faith in Americas geeks and hackers than I do in the federal goverment. They may succeed in partially shutting it down but it seems to me they would be caught up in a game of cat and mouse while smart Americans kept them chasing false alarms.
Stephen Clay McGehee
Joni,
Radio is certainly one of the best options. The "Tree" systems tend to be pretty clunky though, and unless it is something that gets used regularly (like weekly), then it probably isn't going to be worth even looking at. Also, remember that game that many of us played as kids sitting around a camp fire called "Gossip"? The chance of an accurate message making it all the way through a tree system is pretty slim. I would have very little faith in the accuracy of any such messages myself.
Two options that were popular before the days of internet still are good possibilities though:
1) The text-based dial-up BBS worked quite well (I ran one myself many years ago), but people simply aren't used to using them, and without practice and a well-established presence, it isn't going to be a good option as a "Plan B" that can be quickly put into place.
2) Fax networks were quite popular for distributing business news and emergency notifications. I was on the county ham radio emergency team, and there was a fax network for hurricane alerts and that sort of thing. It was on its way out when I started with it though, so I don't have much experience with it. Fax machines are very cheap and they do not require a dedicated phone line. They are a no-brainer to use, and they can be programmed to broadcast to a list of numbers. Although computers can function as a fax machine, for what we are talking about here, they are a rather poor choice unless you are the one doing the sending.
I would consider an organized fax network to be the best way for a group to distribute information – assuming that you have a reliable way of collecting and compiling the information in the first place. My guess is that this would only work with groups that are already well established – there is simply nothing that can replace the functionality of the internet.
Just my opinion anyway.
Stephen Clay McGehee
roryn3kids,
You are correct – technically. Although the internet is quite robust, the way we use it depends on a relatively small number of domain name servers (DNS) that converts the domain name that is easy for us to remember into the IP address that the internet actually uses. To use TheSurvivalMom.com as an example, if the government were to shut down the DNS system, you could still get to TheSurvivalMom.com by entering http://97.74.26.170/ . The problem is that very few people would know about that and know what the IP address is so that they could bypass the DNS. It would take a major effort to get folks to record the IP addresses of sites they want to be able to get to – and that assumes that the government 1) would not "scramble" the IP addresses [I doubt it and don't even know if it is possible]. and 2) did not simply do it by decree.
The internet is capable of "self-healing", which was the original design of ARPANET (the original name of the internet when it was developed by ARPA – the Advanced Research Projects Agency). It could route itself around sections of the country hit by nuclear weapons. It was NOT designed to withstand the government demanding that all domestic ISPs shut down their servers under thread of prison terms and huge fines. There is nothing that I can think of that could overcome something like that.
That's just my understanding, of course – I am not Al Gore and I did not invent the thing. ; – )
TheSurvivalMom
Steve, that's a good suggestion — to begin writing down the IP addresses of websites. Thanks for the info, and I agree completely that this plan is utter madness.
high_v0ltage
Another option is running a DNS server at your place that your router connects to. The process is fairly simple however until the bill passes I would not spend any time trying to figure out how to do that. We need to see how the final bill works out and if they define how the shutdown would occur.
LizLong
How do we get the IP addresses for websites?
high_v0ltage
http://baremetal.com/cgi-bin/dnsip
UPDATE: One point to add without going into too much technical detail is some websites cannot be reached by using the IP. If they are on a server which hosts a lot of sites the server determines which site to show by how you requested the site and if you use the IP it will not know which site you're going to and will not take you where you want to go.
Hawaii Honey
Thank you so much for the valuable info!!
I tried the IP above. When you get to the Whois , do you type in the "name" of the site (survivalmom)?
Tacticalintelligence
I’ve been following this bill for a while now and it is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. Although they claim to have altruistic reasons for doing this it is clearly a power grab. As a computer scientist by training I know that the government can close off their internet accesses independently and do not need the power to shut down the whole internet. The sponsors of this bill (Lieberman, Collins, Rockefeller) have clearly corporate interests in mind. I wouldn’t be surprised to see false-flag attacks on the internet to help push this bill through.
Red Icculus
All of this coming from someone who wanted the "most transparent presidency". BS. It's no wonder no one trusts the government anymore.
Barbara
I am mostly technologically illiterate, but even I think this is just mean and controlling. Everyone find out who is sponsoring and supporting this action and write them stinky letters. Contact your own congressmen and tell them in no uncertain terms what you think. Remind them that controlling tyrants can be voted out.
The internet is a source of such needed information, from the safe and proper way to deal with your water heater, to symptoms of illness, even dangerous drug interaction. I can't think of a single GOOD reason to shut down the internet. It is strictly an idea of weak minds. (and they call preppers paranoid!) Every liberty infringed is a step closer to tyranny.
Today'sSurvivalShow
It's all about control. If a disaster strikes and the government can shut down an information source like the internet, it will help them. Think about it, the internet provides us with alternative information and communication such as TheSurvivalMom.com and my site and podcast, http://www.TodaysSurvival.com. The internet is a beast that the politicians cannot control and every day the truth about their actions appear on the internet somewhere. If they can stop that, the general public will not have easy access to find out about their deeds during a disaster. And this current Congress and President are all about control. I like the idea posted about recording IP addresses. I'm going to do that. This is also another good reason to have ham radios and alternative forms of communication available too. I also have a printed survival binder. Also, think about this, even though the internet goes down, it doesn't mean you can't use your computer. Your computer is a great storage device. As long as you can access power to run it, you can store tremendous amounts of info in one place. I have plenty of survival .pdf's and ebooks stored. I don't need the internet to look those up. But thanks for posting this. Good article and good comments here.—Bob Mayne
high_v0ltage
We've talked about commerce and a few other impacts in the comments however what about the impact to those of us who work exclusively over the net? If the internet were shut down my income would drop to zero immediately. There would be no way for me to connect by my servers in data centers and our site traffic would drop to zero.
I can easily think of a hundred people I know personally that would immediately have no income. Also the people who earn a part-time income from ads on their website or using ad services like Google AdSense. As long as the politicians 'enjoy' the same economic impact as many of us would experience I would have no problem with it…a man can dream can't he?
Best wishes.
Rourke
Some ofthe actions this government is taking – well, most of the acions – are just scary.
Between the unbelievable debt and now this – where are we heading? Such an utter lack of common sense? No – I think it is much more calculated.
Good post –
Rourke