Adam Kujawski <adamkuj@amplex.net> wrote:
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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.
what information can't? as a long running american psa said "knowledge is power"
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.
how many spies have gone through this same process? since when does an nda matter to someone who is already breaking a law/rule? i believe it was jared who pointed this out earlier.
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.
the puc is the last two states the i have lived in had trouble keeping track of my bill payments and name, so why should i think that they can handle something this big and important? but, i do think that they are working on something like it - there are (or were) a lot of postings for gis programmers....
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?
well it took forming the ministry of homeland secrecy to get the disparate agencies to talk to one another </sarcasm>
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?
total information awareness?
Would the infrastructure owners oppose such a system being publically available?
i think that they would say no
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.
or their bad designs (which is part of the root of this issue). competition (or lack thereof) would be another motivator to keep it suppressed. good for customers != good for the monoplizing companies who control much of this infrastructure
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.
better yet, make it widely available and subject to a lot of scrutiny and work to fix the problems (think openbsd - one remote compromise in how many years...)
-Adam
/joshua "Walk with me through the Universe, And along the way see how all of us are Connected. Feast the eyes of your Soul, On the Love that abounds. In all places at once, seemingly endless, Like your own existence." - Stephen Hawking -