How Will Governments Keep Up With Technology?

Andy Updegrove writes "Governments are beginning to realize that perhaps the Internet really has changed everything, at least for them, and that they are going to have to deal with new responsibilities in this area. How will they deal with financial and medical data breaches? What can they do to ensure that first responders will be able to communicate the next time that terrorists strike in the Homeland, and how will the refugees of the next Katrina be able to access their electronic medical records? And what must governments do to ensure that public records will be available in fifty years, if they no longer maintain paper archives? Whether government should incline towards leading, following or simply getting out of the way is a matter upon which there are likely to be strongly held differences of opinion. It's also likely, though, that government will not have the luxury of opting for the third choice in some of the areas just mentioned. How well government chooses among those roles, and how well it executes when it chooses to lead, will likely have a profound impact on our lives in the years ahead."

Comments

Ham's

[jshriverWVU]

Amateur radio is a great backup system when all else fails in the arena of communication.

Re:Ham's

[zippthorne]

That depends on what's failed. Amateur radio has significantly greater range (two or three orders of magnitude with inexpensive equipment) than cellular. Cell towers already have battery backup, and some have generator backup. IIRC, phone companies also have mobile power units as well as mobile cell towers with generators.

Also, Amateur radio nets can function as a kid of "chat room" for emergency responders and volunteers. Issues that might get ignored through normal channels can be addressed by volunteers.

Re:Ham's

[azrider]

Some insight on Amateur Radio from a 20-year licensee. Ham operators tend to specialize (mine is disaster management). While it is nice to wish for a cell tower wherever it is needed in an emergency, it is extremely impractical. By contrast, I and my other Emergency Coordinators can set up a world wide radio net with batteries (or solar). Google for "ARRL" and "Field Day" - we do this at least once a year, every year. Google for "NDMS" (National Disaster Medical System) - we are intimately involved in each biannual drill. Ask many of the national charities who sponsor walks, bike rides etc. - we provide radio communications for each. Note that all of the operators are not paid for their time or expertise - we do this in payment for the spectrum we have been provided under FCC rules, intended for experimentation and furtherance of the art. We, however, do not function as a kind of "chat room" - we in ARES and RACES (more google fodder) see what we do as a serious undertaking, one in which we spend thousands of $(your currency here) as a hobby. When the tsunami hit in the Phillipines, the first communications out was a team of ham operators who happened to be there testing long range communications. They stayed until relieved, relying on the equipment they had brought to tell the world what was happening (and pass on as many messages as they could). This was not a government (or NGO) funded operation, nor was it done with the availability of outside power. It was right place-right time. How can any government or company hope to be there with power and radio if the event is a suprise.

Cell towers already have battery backup, and some have generator backup.

This is true, but if the cell tower has no connection to the outside world, what good does this do?

IIRC, phone companies also have mobile power units as well as mobile cell towers with generators.

Again true, but they have to be able to connect to the PSTN in order for the CoW (Cell on Wheels) to function