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more on Why cell phone outage reports are secret
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 06:59:18 +0900
Begin forwarded message: From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Date: December 17, 2006 5:39:51 AM JST To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] re: Why cell phone outage reports are secret Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com [Note: This comment comes from reader Randy Burge. DLH] From: Randy Burge <burge () proactiveteams com> Date: December 16, 2006 10:09:08 AM PST To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Subject: Re: [Dewayne-Net] Why cell phone outage reports are secretThis federal secrecy all but institutionalizes poor service and allows the weakest cell phone and telecom companies to succeed despite their lack of effective network investments or management. This secrecy begs the question,
which service is the greater security risk–poor unreliable service or quality reliable service? Never mind the billions of frustrating and even dangerous moments that consumers experience by the lack of cell phone coverage during theundisclosed outages. Imagine stranded motorists or homeowners who are being accosted in their own moments of terror and tries to use their cell phones for help, but, hey, the service is out for everyone for long periods of time
(secretly). Suppose someone sees an actual terrorist plot (or the much more commoncriminal terror plot) unfolding and attempts to call the authorities, but, hey, sorry, his/her cell phone company is experiencing an outage. Is this more-plausible micro-personal-terror-risk scenario, repeated thousands of
times a year, a greater security risk than macro-reporting the incompetencies of the cell phone carriers?Perhaps the FCC and the DHS should look at the situation in reverse and take the position that *crappy cell phone coverage are the far greater threats to national security.* These agencies should grasp that by exposing (outing)
the outage histories of cell phone companies in regional markets, theconsumers in the markets will force companies with poor operating records to improve their reliability or be forced out of business. [The law of survival
of the fittest–at one time this was a capitalist mantra].The situation suggests that the corporations have effectively taken over the
regulatory processes of our government, to the point where the agencies exist to protect the corporations from the consumers, not the other way around. The guise of homeland security secrecy provides the convenient, although paradoxical cloak of "security" to further institutionalize the conversion. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on Why cell phone outage reports are secret David Farber (Dec 16)