[Backbone Infrastructure and Secrecy]

Adam Kujawski adamkuj at amplex.net
Tue Jul 8 21:57:52 UTC 2003


Quoting Joel Jaeggli <joelja at darkwing.uoregon.edu>:

> The part that's striking to me, is that as usual, the folks in the
> industry don't know when their facilities are co-mingled, in part becuase
> that information simply isn't readily and easily available unless
> someone's willing to go out collect the small little bits and connect the
> dots... If that compartimentalization continues, then continginency
> planning just remains that much harder when no-one is in a position to
> make informed decisions.

Exactly. I think we all agree that this kind of information would be usefull 
for a variety of reasons (locating available resources, ensuring path 
redundancy, identifying critical points of failure, etc). I think we all agree 
that this information, in the wrong hands, can also be used for naughty 
purposes.

How do we balance these opposing factors? I like the idea of a clearinghouse 
where one can access the data after a background check and a NDA. At the state 
level, the logical place would be the PUC. They have all the data, but do they 
have it all in a single GIS database? They should, but I doubt they do.

At the national level, is there any department or agency to go to? It certainly 
doesn't sound like it. What would it take to get a project such as Mr. Gorman's 
done by the federal government so that there would be a single place to go? 
Does the government already have this information locked up behind closed 
doors? It seems like they would. Is there any reason not to make it available 
to interested parties that have a valid reason to access it?

Would the infrastructure owners oppose such a system being publically 
available? After all, they don't want their competitors to copy their good 
design or take advantage of underserved markets revealed by the maps. But it 
seems they would have much to gain as well - potential customers will know who 
to go to for service.

It sounds like the current trend is toward supressing this kind of information. 
But as an industry, it is in our best interest to compile this information and 
make it available to the proper parties.

-Adam





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