Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009    Text size: 

A new report by the Government Accountability Office warns that increasing usage of the Internet by workers seeking to telecommute rather than risk contracting H1N1 in the office; as well as students and others — including those seeking information on the disease and local inoculation information — could bring the Internet to a crawl, especially as the rate of infection rises.

Citing a study by the Department of Homeland Security which focuses on the ability of workers within the financial and securities sectors to function remotely in the wake of a widespread H1N1 bio-emergency, the GAO report states that "Increased demand during a severe pandemic could exceed the capacities of Internet providers' access networks for residential users and interfere with teleworkers in the securities market and other sectors."

According to the GAO, it was asked to examine a pandemic's impact on Internet congestion and what actions can be and are being taken to address it, the adequacy of securities market organizations' pandemic plans, and the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) oversight of these efforts.

To address the situation, some analysts believe that government intervention may be required, and that Internet Service Providers may need to limit access to their networks, such as by prohibiting visits to streaming video transmission sites like YouTube, or access to adult video networks.

"Private Internet providers have limited ability to prioritize traffic or take other actions that could assist critical teleworkers," the report states. "Some actions, such as reducing customers' transmission speeds or blocking popular [websites], could negatively impact ecommerce and require government authorization."

DHS has reportedly not yet developed a strategy to address potential Internet congestion or worked with federal partners to ensure that sufficient authorities to act exist. The report also found that DHS has not assessed the feasibility of conducting a campaign to obtain public cooperation to reduce nonessential Internet use to relieve congestion, nor begun coordinating with other federal and private sector entities to assess actions that could be taken or determine what authorities may be needed to act.