One of richest pathways towards improving the level of community coordination in the event of disaster/disconnection, is through the use of community Web sites that provide actionable information (here's an example of how this worked in San Diego during the recent fires) and reverse 911 data-sharing. Unfortunately, community emergency Web sites as well as basic data services are extremely vulnerable to disconnection. What's needed are smart local networks.

Smart Local Networks

(a local Internet or community Intranet)

Most of the local loops (from telco fiber to cable company coaxial) currently in place and/or being installed in the US are dumb (I suspect it is the same globally). They simply route data from local customers to regionally clustered corporate server farms and then outwards/back. This means that any disconnection (physical or logical fault) between local customers and these remote systems will result in a complete cessation of service. To correct this deficiency, communities need to start to think more like a corporation: security of data services are considered central to a company's survival. So, as part of future negotiations with cable/telcos, communities should request that companies allow them to piggyback on their "dumb" networks to create a smart local loops. This would entail:

