Politech: FC: Terra Lycos wants "Emergency Online Broadcast System"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Why does this seem more a portal site's attempt to remain relevant than 
anything that's truly necessary? Besides, remember when the old TV-radio 
emergency alert system was *not* activated on 9-11-01, the one date in 
recent memory that arguably required it? --Declan]

"Web Ready For National Alerts"
Investor's Business Daily (10/28/02) P. A6; Howell, Donna

Terra Lycos CTO Tim Wright suggests that an Emergency Online Broadcast 
System be organized, either in imitation of or with the cooperation of the 
Emergency Alert System (EAS). Wright says that voluntarily running 
alerts--delivered in XML--on the main portal pages of Terra Lycos, 
Microsoft, AOL Time Warner, and Yahoo! would allow them to reach the 
largest number of online users. Terra Lycos thinks that national alerts 
should at least be posted on top Web sites and shown to everyone, while 
another suggestion is the broadcast of local alerts through personalized 
Web user settings. Wireless carriers are worried that the drive to post 
alerts on cell phones or pagers could lead to a capacity overload, and 
sending emergency alerts to the Web could mitigate this problem. A proposal 
Terra Lycos sent to the Office of Homeland Security would involve the 
year-long development of a system that could alert many users 
simultaneously, in keeping with the need to refine communications in light 
of terrorist threats. The enormous amount of Web traffic that resulted from 
Sept. 11 forced many companies to come up with bandwidth-saving emergency 
strategies, and firms such as Terra Lycos are contracting with companies to 
supply more capacity if traffic becomes excessive. "Now systems servicing 
news could be quickly supplemented to double capacity within an hour," 
declares Wright. Herbert White of the National Weather Service reports that 
his organization uses an EAS-based warning infrastructure, and is 
collaborating with the Partnership For Public Warning to improve the system.
http://www.investors.com/editorial/tech.asp?v=10/28 



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