The internet is worth £100bn a year to the UK economy

[Nigel]

come on guys - I'm the first person to talk up domains and genuinely feel that our industry is doing really well at the moment and domains have proved a far better investment than the stockmarket or savings account.

But I think you're burying your head in the sand if you think chances of major disruption via terrorism or a major natural disaster are a million to one in the future.

There are thousands of people out there expending every ounze of their energy thinking of ways of bringing carnage to our nation. It's certainly not a million to one that there will be a major terrorism incident in our country i.e. if they could put their hands on a nuclear device they would use it tomorrow, If they could target nuclear power stations they would, if they could contaminate our water supply they would. Now if something should happen in London or a major city then everything would grind to a halt. You know what it's like. A couple of fuel protests left us with little food in our local stores. A bit of dust from Iceland stopped traffic into and out of the UK. Yes, following a major unprecedented incident they might get the internet up and running but who would be looking to buy a sofa or a flight? The disruption could last months or years. But it wouldn't just affect our industry - it would be everybody and virtually every sector.

 

[domainseller200]

come on guys - I'm the first person to talk up domains and genuinely feel that our industry is doing really well at the moment and domains have proved a far better investment than the stockmarket or savings account.

Well said Nigel

 

[disruptive]

We must remember the beginnings of the t'internet, i.e. ARPANET, designed to be robust against attack. However whether there is enough redundancy to circumvent economic destruction is another matter. Just imagine a couple of days without internet: shops would not get food due to deliveries, stock market would crash, money would be frozen or near useless. There could be a switch to other commodities to trade, even food/cars/medical supplies.

There are backup systems such as closed private networks, but the average joe would be hit hard, things would be v difficult to conduct any sort of business. I'd love to think we are self sufficient, but even if we are, can you be sure those solar cells will stay on your roof for long?

I'm not pessimistic, just prepared that one day it could happen where we see huge calimitous shocks to the system.

 

[websaway]

We must remember the beginnings of the t'internet, i.e. ARPANET, designed to be robust against attack. However whether there is enough redundancy to circumvent economic destruction is another matter. Just imagine a couple of days without internet: shops would not get food due to deliveries, stock market would crash, money would be frozen or near useless. There could be a switch to other commodities to trade, even food/cars/medical supplies.

There are backup systems such as closed private networks, but the average joe would be hit hard, things would be v difficult to conduct any sort of business. I'd love to think we are self sufficient, but even if we are, can you be sure those solar cells will stay on your roof for long?

I'm not pessimistic, just prepared that one day it could happen where we see huge calimitous shocks to the system.

If a nuclear bomb fell on NewYork or a Meteorite hit London it would be catastrophic - Nothing new with that scenario.

 

[DomainManagement]

What about HAARP

Has anyone seen or read about HAARP

This looks like it could cause big trouble and has already

 

[Edwin]

Probably a simpler way to look at things is this: if an event occurs that's so destructive that the internet "goes out" and electricity becomes unusable, we'll all be too busy sharpening sticks to worry about what just happened to the value of our domain names. In fact, "value" as a concept would change utterly, because the normal mechanisms of the economy would break as well (who cares about "money" when there's no food, water or heat? Unless of course it comes in large piles big enough to burn and chase away the encroaching dark for a few more hours...)

In other words, the only disruption large enough to destroy our industry would ALSO destroy our way of life, so there's no point in worrying about it or planning for it (it can't be planned for)

 

[BREWSTERS]

Sort of related, country comes under ddos attack - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11693214

 

[namealot]

Cyber attacks, terrorists etc etc just an excuse to bring in government control... If a someone wanted to cause real havoc all they need is a rope and car and a angle grinder cut through five or so pylons and you would take the power out in vast areas of many cities (less for towns) with no power for a few days would see real havoc as the locals go native....

 

[jasman]

Cyber attacks, terrorists etc etc just an excuse to bring in government control... If a someone wanted to cause real havoc all they need is a rope and car and a angle grinder cut through five or so pylons and you would take the power out in vast areas of many cities (less for towns) with no power for a few days would see real havoc as the locals go native....

Exactly so. They create the problem, have their buddies in the media get to work with the fear mongering and then bring in legislation to "resolve" the problem they created which always grants them more power and takes your rights away.