Re: COVID-19 vs. our Networks

[Blake Hudson <blake () ispn net>]

Have you heard of the Patriot Act? Tom is correct that this does set a 
precedent of suppressing freedom of speech (I realize this is not a 
right in the EU like it is in US). "They that can give up essential 
liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty 
nor safety."


On 3/20/2020 10:10 AM, Mike Bolitho wrote:
>     "It is something that matters, because it has the potential to set
>     a dangerous precedent."
>
>
> Can we stop with this talk... around everything? We're literally 
> living through an unprecedented event right now. My 86 year old 
> grandmother said she's never seen anything like this in the US. My 
> friends 94 year old grandmother in Italy said she hasn't seen this 
> since WWII. Nobody is going to say "Well we did this during a global 
> pandemic so we can now do it because we feel like it". People will 
> laugh them out of the room. I live in Phoenix, the mayor shut down 
> bars and restaurants (carryout only) in order to help stop us from 
> becoming Italy. One of our city councilmen was saying the same thing: 
> "This is martial law and sets bad precedent! We must open everything 
> up!" Of course, they then held a closed to the public meeting because 
> city council can't be exposed. The point is, the mayor isn't going to 
> do the same thing in six months on a whim because traffic on the 
> freeway is bad. Thankfully calmer heads prevailed and the rest of the 
> council told him to pound sand, at least for now.
>
> Something that keeps happening on this mailing list over the last few 
> weeks is this tendency to try to take the "Moral high ground". And 
> from way up there people are looking at the whole topic from an 
> idealistic point of view like we live in some Network Operators Utopia 
> with perfect conditions where money doesn't exist and we can do 
> whatever we want because there is no upper management. We should be 
> having a practical conversation that sits within the confines of 
> reality. We don't have perfect networks built. We don't have unlimited 
> resources. We are facing a global pandemic. Money is tight. In 
> principle, I agree with what you guys are saying. But in reality, 
> we're going to have to bend our convictions in order to protect 
> populations from COVID-19. You will be changing your tune when your 
> mother is sick and can't get the care she needs because the system is 
> overwhelmed because we (communities, not just network operators) 
> didn't do what was necessary because of some idealistic hard line 
> people drew in the sand.
>
> - Mike Bolitho