Congressional investigators recommend blocking popular websites

In the event of a pandemic, we all hope that we can continue going about our business thanks to the Internet. However, in a report issued Monday, October 26, 2009, congressional investigators make an offhand recommendation that I’d like not to slip throguh the cracks because it smacks of a type of centralized control that I bridle against.

Private Internet providers might need government authorization to block popular websites, it said, or to reduce residential transmission speeds to make way for commerce.

And who, pray tell, decides what’s popular? I could get by fine without facebook, which reported is responsible for 1/4 of Internet pageviews, a lofty figure if I ever heard one. Someone else could be devastated by it. I’m sure some companies might quietly suggest that Google could stand to take a day off, but those that rely on their free services for documents, calenders and email would sing quite another tune!