TFL and the whole Internet in danger

Libertarian · August 1, 2002, 05:08 PM

While this might sound little tinfoil wearing nutcase paranoia, it isn't.

Consider how much of the Internet is routed over equipment and cables owned and operated by Worldcomm/MCI. The feds have arreested or are arresting the top two at Worldcomm today. They may go in and close the company down later today or tomorrow. If the company is locked down the network operating center (NOC) people will not be able to access the system and if the electricity is turned off neither will we.

I am basing this on a short report from FNC just now. I do not yet have a link to this.

dZ · August 1, 2002, 05:28 PM

Nah, the gov't will just step in,
"enhance" the hardware and keep it rolling along

We were promised yesterday that the systems will be kept operating

Who are we at war with today? Eurasia or Eastasia?

**tyme** · August 1, 2002, 05:55 PM

I'd love to see the government *try* to log all that traffic.

Hal · August 1, 2002, 05:56 PM

hmmmm
Interesting thought,,,,

Then again, IBM ran into anti trust problems and had their top exec's jailed what, in the 30's? They seemed to shake it off.

LetsFetz · August 1, 2002, 06:10 PM

... not that far fetched ...

Azrael256 · August 1, 2002, 09:31 PM

No, not all that likely. If you'll recall, there have been several telecomm companies that went under and were then ordered to continue service to customers per their contracts. If MCI, Worldcom, UUNET, etc. cut off customers, the'll be able to pay all their bills simply by recycling the paper from all the lawsuits they'll be slapped with before the echo of the shutdown order fades away.

C.R.Sam · August 1, 2002, 09:49 PM

Don't let your blinker skills get rusty.

Hilltop to hilltop with mirrors or lights will be the free communications of the new age.

Jeeze...I sho hope that was in jest.

Coltdriver · August 1, 2002, 10:12 PM

You are way over the top on this one.

Don't know what you saw on tv but it was only speculation.

Worldcom is a long way from shutting down. They have 120 days to negotiate a deal with their bondholders and both the board of directors and the bondholders are very aggressively determined to keep the company in tact and operating.

They will emerge out of this mess with their UUNET, the long distance operation and the MCI Consumer unit making tons of money with no debt to service.

Blackhawk · August 1, 2002, 10:59 PM

UUNet was a BIG ISP. WorldCOM took it over. UUNet's structure is still intact. I presume the same situation exists with WorldCOM's other ISP acquisitions. IOW, 1s & 0s will continue to flow....

Libertarian · August 1, 2002, 11:17 PM

The feds are worried about the problem of a shutdown in serrvice so they are working out a way to make sure all connections continue. If things go per norm with a federal intervention, we have about 15 minutes t

illuminatus99 · August 2, 2002, 05:31 AM

in an absolute worst case scenario, worldcom is shut down and other companies buy off pieces of their network, everything runs as normal. what most likely will happen though is worldcom will downsize a lot and sell of some of the subsidiaries, my suggestion would be to take some spare cash and buy some worldcom stock as soon as they're back on NASDAQ, they'll probably come back around $.16 a share and are projected to reach around $2 a share by next year, if things go right they could be back up to $40-50 per share in a couple of years and chances are it'll split a few times before then.

ahenry · August 2, 2002, 10:28 AM

Oh come on!

The whole infrastructure of the internet is designed around the concept of being immune to “hiccoughs in the git-along”. Besides, the “lines” that enable the internet to function exist regardless of ownership. One company that goes under doesn’t take those lines away. Somebody else will just recognize the business opportunity and step up to the plate, the most that could possibly happen from a bankruptcy (of any company) is a very short term slow down. In my humble opinion.

Waitone · August 3, 2002, 03:49 PM

IIRC, Worldcom runs a fair amout of DoD inter // entranet traffic.

Second, I remember when Worldcom went wobbly there was an Asian company, Hutchinson Wampoa, that stood in the wings and made an outright bid for the company. HW is a wholly-owned subsidary of the Peoples Revolutionary Army of China (many thanks to our former president).

For those two reasons, the US will not let Worldcom go away.

**Rich Lucibella** · August 3, 2002, 04:41 PM

Doesn't require anyone to take over WorldCom's network to keep Internet traffic flowing. Shut it down today and the internet traffic simply routes around the dead routers. Yes, WorldCom end users would be affected, but that's about it.

Also, as has been said, thay are a LONG way from "shutdown".
Rich

jimpeel · August 3, 2002, 05:24 PM

Worldcom Group (WCOEQ) is already at $.14 per share, down $.02. I went to http://www.sharebuilder.com and checked out the stock and even though they are in the tank, they still moved 47.24 million shares on Friday.

WorldCom Inc. - Mci Group (MCWEQ) is at $.32/share.

Call me silly, but I bought 1,000 shares of ENRON (ENROQ) and they moved 6.10M shares on Friday. They are at $.19 up $.03. I am waiting to see if their infrastructure is going to be bought up by another energy company. If it is, that will be very nice for me.

August 1, 2002, 05:08 PM	#1
Libertarian Senior Member Join Date: October 27, 1999 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 2,117	TFL and the whole Internet in danger While this might sound little tinfoil wearing nutcase paranoia, it isn't. Consider how much of the Internet is routed over equipment and cables owned and operated by Worldcomm/MCI. The feds have arreested or are arresting the top two at Worldcomm today. They may go in and close the company down later today or tomorrow. If the company is locked down the network operating center (NOC) people will not be able to access the system and if the electricity is turned off neither will we. I am basing this on a short report from FNC just now. I do not yet have a link to this. __________________ "Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom." JFK My other favorite forum is The Armed Citizen My PGP key is 0x780B7C0A

August 1, 2002, 05:28 PM	#2
dZ Senior Member Join Date: June 1, 1999 Location: Exiled, Fetid Swamp, DC Posts: 7,549	Nah, the gov't will just step in, "enhance" the hardware and keep it rolling along We were promised yesterday that the systems will be kept operating Who are we at war with today? Eurasia or Eastasia? __________________ "O tell the Lacedomecians to damn the torpedoes." BOTR, Chapter V: Some Monsters

August 1, 2002, 05:55 PM	#3
tyme Staff Join Date: October 13, 2001 Location: Novalis 978-0553586251 Posts: 2,996	I'd love to see the government try to log all that traffic. __________________ Proud reseller of little geisha dolls with big heads that wobble.

August 1, 2002, 06:10 PM	#5
LetsFetz Senior Member Join Date: June 7, 2002 Location: Africa Posts: 341	... not that far fetched ... __________________ Young man, was that a landing? - or where we shot down!?

August 1, 2002, 11:17 PM	#10
Libertarian Senior Member Join Date: October 27, 1999 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 2,117	The feds are worried about the problem of a shutdown in serrvice so they are working out a way to make sure all connections continue. If things go per norm with a federal intervention, we have about 15 minutes t __________________ "Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom." JFK My other favorite forum is The Armed Citizen My PGP key is 0x780B7C0A

August 1, 2002, 05:56 PM	#4
Hal Senior Member Join Date: October 10, 1998 Location: Ohio USA Posts: 6,974	hmmmm Interesting thought,,,, Then again, IBM ran into anti trust problems and had their top exec's jailed what, in the 30's? They seemed to shake it off.

August 1, 2002, 09:31 PM	#6
Azrael256 Senior Member Join Date: November 27, 2001 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 547	No, not all that likely. If you'll recall, there have been several telecomm companies that went under and were then ordered to continue service to customers per their contracts. If MCI, Worldcom, UUNET, etc. cut off customers, the'll be able to pay all their bills simply by recycling the paper from all the lawsuits they'll be slapped with before the echo of the shutdown order fades away.

August 1, 2002, 09:49 PM	#7
C.R.Sam Senior Member Join Date: October 30, 1999 Location: Dewey, AZ Posts: 12,864	Don't let your blinker skills get rusty. Hilltop to hilltop with mirrors or lights will be the free communications of the new age. Jeeze...I sho hope that was in jest.

August 1, 2002, 10:12 PM	#8
Coltdriver Senior Member Join Date: March 2, 2001 Posts: 683	You are way over the top on this one. Don't know what you saw on tv but it was only speculation. Worldcom is a long way from shutting down. They have 120 days to negotiate a deal with their bondholders and both the board of directors and the bondholders are very aggressively determined to keep the company in tact and operating. They will emerge out of this mess with their UUNET, the long distance operation and the MCI Consumer unit making tons of money with no debt to service.

August 1, 2002, 10:59 PM	#9
Blackhawk Senior Member Join Date: November 4, 2001 Posts: 5,046	UUNet was a BIG ISP. WorldCOM took it over. UUNet's structure is still intact. I presume the same situation exists with WorldCOM's other ISP acquisitions. IOW, 1s & 0s will continue to flow....

August 2, 2002, 05:31 AM	#11
illuminatus99 Senior Member Join Date: February 4, 2002 Location: Seattle Posts: 353	in an absolute worst case scenario, worldcom is shut down and other companies buy off pieces of their network, everything runs as normal. what most likely will happen though is worldcom will downsize a lot and sell of some of the subsidiaries, my suggestion would be to take some spare cash and buy some worldcom stock as soon as they're back on NASDAQ, they'll probably come back around $.16 a share and are projected to reach around $2 a share by next year, if things go right they could be back up to $40-50 per share in a couple of years and chances are it'll split a few times before then.

August 2, 2002, 10:28 AM	#12
ahenry Senior Member Join Date: January 25, 2001 Location: Alabama Posts: 1,766	Oh come on! The whole infrastructure of the internet is designed around the concept of being immune to “hiccoughs in the git-along”. Besides, the “lines” that enable the internet to function exist regardless of ownership. One company that goes under doesn’t take those lines away. Somebody else will just recognize the business opportunity and step up to the plate, the most that could possibly happen from a bankruptcy (of any company) is a very short term slow down. In my humble opinion. __________________ Doing what you've done, gets you what you've got.

August 3, 2002, 03:49 PM	#13
Waitone Senior Member Join Date: March 19, 2000 Posts: 2,904	IIRC, Worldcom runs a fair amout of DoD inter // entranet traffic. Second, I remember when Worldcom went wobbly there was an Asian company, Hutchinson Wampoa, that stood in the wings and made an outright bid for the company. HW is a wholly-owned subsidary of the Peoples Revolutionary Army of China (many thanks to our former president). For those two reasons, the US will not let Worldcom go away. __________________ "Given a choice between good intentions and human nature, I'll go with human nature every time."--Me, 2002.

August 3, 2002, 04:41 PM	#14
Rich Lucibella Staff Join Date: October 6, 1998 Location: South Florida Posts: 10,130	Doesn't require anyone to take over WorldCom's network to keep Internet traffic flowing. Shut it down today and the internet traffic simply routes around the dead routers. Yes, WorldCom end users would be affected, but that's about it. Also, as has been said, thay are a LONG way from "shutdown". Rich __________________ S.W.A.T. Magazine Weapons, Training and Tactics for the Real World Join us at TFL or at AR15.com or on Facebook

August 3, 2002, 05:24 PM	#15
jimpeel Senior Member Join Date: October 12, 1999 Location: Longmont, CO, USA Posts: 4,391	Worldcom Group (WCOEQ) is already at $.14 per share, down $.02. I went to http://www.sharebuilder.com and checked out the stock and even though they are in the tank, they still moved 47.24 million shares on Friday. WorldCom Inc. - Mci Group (MCWEQ) is at $.32/share. Call me silly, but I bought 1,000 shares of ENRON (ENROQ) and they moved 6.10M shares on Friday. They are at $.19 up $.03. I am waiting to see if their infrastructure is going to be bought up by another energy company. If it is, that will be very nice for me. __________________ Gun Control: The premise that a woman found in an alley, raped and strangled with her own pantyhose, is morally superior to allowing that same woman to defend her life with a firearm. "Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house." - Jules Henri Poincare "Three thousand people died on Sept. 11 because eight pilots were killed" -- former Northwest Airlines pilot Stephen Luckey