[148765] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Megaupload.com seized
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (George Bonser)
Sun Jan 22 02:21:59 2012
From: George Bonser <gbonser@seven.com>
To: JC Dill <jcdill.lists@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:20:59 +0000
In-Reply-To: <4F1B84EA.1030503@gmail.com>
Cc: "nanog@nanog.org" <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
> This is what disaster simulations are for, to suss out these problems
> before a disaster and put in systems to avoid the mess.
>=20
> In the real world, while a city might keep the digital documents "in
> the cloud" they would also (always) have paper copies, because in a big
> emergency their computers (local mail/file servers or internet access
> to the cloud) are likely to be unavailable, power or internet access is
> likely to be disrupted.=20
Nope, no paper copies. In fact, many of the documents such as maps and dra=
wings are not even provided on paper anymore at any stage of the process. =
It's all electronic. The engineering drawings, maps, reports, plans, every=
thing's electronic copy now. If you want a copy to take to the field, you=
print one off and dispose of it when done unless you keep it in your perso=
nal storage (desk file drawer).
> In a true emergency such as Loma Prieta, they
> are going to reach for the paper maps that were printed and saved for
> just this eventuality
Nope, the paper maps have been disposed of as they have become obsolete and=
replaced with electronic copy. It requires space to store all those docum=
ents. Space costs money. I'm being absolutely serious here. Not only are=
many of these municipalities no longer storing paper copies, they are stor=
ing them "in the cloud" that might become completely unreachable during an =
emergency. My jaw just about hit the floor when it was explained to me wha=
t one town in California was doing. Those people are going to be just abou=
t completely helpless in an emergency but they are doing it because they ar=
e running out of money. Pensions are eating that town alive. =20
Their emergency drills do not include a loss of connectivity to the cloud.
> CERT is a great program and will really help open your eyes
> to many types of emergency planning you probably haven't thought about.
> Plus, the more involved you are with CERT the more you are "known" to
> your local disaster management teams, and the better access you will
> have to them in the event of a major disaster.
>=20
I am talking here about the process internal to the government agency, not =
drills concerning the public. In case of an emergency where they are cut o=
ff from Google, that town government will have no email and no access to th=
eir documents. They have no other mechanism, they can't afford it. The da=
ys when a city could actually have contingency plans are just about over. =
Pensions are eating them up so badly, they are just barely able to function=
at all. I'm being dead serious. Larger cities such as San Jose have abou=
t 10 years left. The Mayor of SJC said that in about 12 years the city wil=
l not be able to provide any services whatsoever. Pensions will take 100% =
of city revenue. They have already started closing the libraries.
