more on Why cell phone outage reports are secret

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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 secret

This 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 the
undisclosed 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 common
criminal 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, the
consumers 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/