Slashdot Mirror
Bird Flu Pandemic Could Choke the Net
PetManimal writes "If a pandemic were to occur, many companies and organizations would ask their staffs to work from home. The impact of millions of additional people using the Internet from home might require individuals and companies to voluntarily restrain themselves from surfing to high-bandwidth sites, such as YouTube. If people didn't comply, the government might step in and limit Net usage. The scenario is not far-fetched: last year at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, a group of telecom and government officials conducted a pandemic exercise based on a hypothetical breakout of bird flu in central Europe. The results weren't pretty." From the latter article: "'We assumed total absentees of 30% to 60% trying to work from home, which would have overwhelmed the Internet,' said [one] participant. 'We did not assume that the backbone would be gone, but that the edge of the network... would be overwhelmed... The conclusion [of imminent collapse] was not absolute, and the situation was not digitally simulated, but the idea of everyone working from home appears untenable,' [he] said."
no wonder i got it, everyone else's net is choked
Thankfully Linux is immune to Bird viruses.
Bird Flu Pandemic Could Choke the Net
None of those birds have a deadly flu. They're just pining for the fjords.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Yes, this could really be a pandemic for all those of us currently connected to the internet only by IP over Avian Carriers.
It's not like we run all our IP over Avian Carriers.
Not if all the spammers die first.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
"the situation was not digitally simulated" = "we guessed"
And at that I think I'm being generous about their motives.
--- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
Indeed, you probably picked up apostrophiti's there.
Wow... How's that for ironic?
A chicken is going to choke the internet...
Must... not... make... "In Soviet Russia..." joke...
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
"Staff" is already plural. Why would they ask their "staffs" to work from home, unless they were wizards who employed an especially large number of magical sticks?
... and then they built the supercollider.
Troll me, but this article is not news. We need a bullshit or a snore tag.
P.S. And probably an angry moderation option.
Boy, am I glad we don't keep birds in my office!
Well in that case, we shouldn't invest in more teleco infrastructure or worry about government regulation, we should just quit going to work.
That's a %50 reduction in the probability of an epidemic right there.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
What they forgot to mention is that for 30% to 60% of central europeans, working from home means having sex on a webcam.
one of the most effective methods of controlling spread is social isolation
At least the Slashdot community will be safe.
Thanks to the internet, we can now all die alone together! -SomeWoman