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News.com however, carries more skeptical perspective on the reports.

In the wake of worms like Code Red and Blaster, there can be little doubt that such an attack is very feasible and perhaps it's only a matter of time before some group of fanatics trying to make a point carry out such a threat.

I've already written a column before in which I asked whether Net users were sufficiently prepared for such a loss of service -- but what about those who provide the infrastructure on which the Net is built?

What can/are our telcos and ISPs doing to cope in the event that massive DOS attacks are launched on key elements of the internet?

Has alternative routing been planned to try (as much as possible) to skirt those areas of the Net that are most congested by such attacks?

Are methods for detecting and disabling "owned" computers on their network in place and tested?

How long will it take to put up the cyber-roadblocks that might be needed to avoid network overload in such circumstances?

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I'm sure all those asked would reassure us that they have measures in place and have "a plan" to deal with such situations - but I wonder how effective and *tested* those plans really are?

Fortunately for most of us, even if cyberterrorists did bring the Net to its knees, there'd be little real damage done.

The phones would still work (assuming you're not using VOIP already), so you could still ring people or send them faxes. Urgent data could still be couriered on CD or DVD if necessary. And, providing proper systems maintenance and firewall policies were in place, most computers would remain able to perform their various off-line tasks.

In reality, such a cyber-attack would simply be a "proof of concept" action with little real effect -- except perhaps for those pure-internet businesses such as eBay, Amazon, Google, etc. Even then, any company that would collapse for the loss of a few days trade was probably on very shaky ground anyway.

Will the sky fall tomorrow? Who cares -- it's not heavy enough to hurt anyway :-)

Death to Spammers
I see that the federal authorities in the USA have pounced on an unknown number of career-spammers and expect to announce a number of arrests tomorrow.

That can only be good news -- but don't expect miracles.

So long as US-based spammers are prepared to include an opt-out facility, a real address and a few other "must haves" in their spam, they can continue to fill our mailboxes with their evil dross with the full sanction of authorities -- thanks to the CAN-SPAM Act.

Don't look for any significant drop in the levels of spam in the wake of these arrests, the savvy spammers will simply include the address of a rented office somewhere, provide an opt-out system that they never even monitor and use throw-away email addresses that are valid -- albeit nobody will ever read your complaints or the bounce-messages.

If you multiply the level of anger, frustration, annoyance and pain that spam causes each and every Net user every day by the number of those users I think you'd have to agree that it's a *much* bigger problem than terrorism.

Why can't the Americans pass anti-spam laws that are a match for their anti-terror laws.

Let's see the creation of a "Camp Spamtanimo" in Cuba and allow all manner of "interrogation" techniques to be used on these spamming sods. Take away their rights just as they've taken away our right not to have to put up with porno, gambling and sexual-aids solicitations in our mailboxes.

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