MIT Technology Review is running an article that states that U.S. President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using GPS technology. Bush also instructed the Defence Department to develop plans to disable, in certain areas, an enemy’s access to the U.S. navigational satellites and to similar systems operated by others. The European Union is developing a $4.8 billion (euro3.59 billion) program, called Galileo.
Assuming this does happen, does it mean they will “scramble” the signal for the general public and only the US military have it? What are the implications for the rest of the world who rely on this service - especially the essential services in other countries such as Police or an Ambulance getting to a life-saving situation? So, what is next on the line, shutting down the DNS servers so the terrorists cannot send emails across?
I don’t know if I should shake my head or laugh out loud.