Colonial Pipeline is a private company. Should the US Government get involved?

Matt Dillon said:
iu
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Simple Question for our Conservative Members here at JPP.
 
Jack said:
"This is as close as you can get to the jugular of infrastructure in the United States," said Amy Myers Jaffe, research professor and managing director of the Climate Policy Lab. "It's not a major pipeline. It's the pipeline."
https://www.reuters.com/technology/...ations-after-cybersecurity-attack-2021-05-08/

"Ben Sasse, a Republican senator from Nebraska and a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the cyberattack was a wakeup call for U.S. lawmakers.
"This is a play that will be run again, and we're not adequately prepared," he said, adding Congress should pass an infrastructure plan that hardens sectors against these attacks."

Looks like one Conservative Senator thinks 'Critical Infrastructure' (even though privately held) needs 'Government Assistance'.
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What have they done since the Chinese hacked the traffic lights and power grid in Miami? Not a damn thing, maybe?

Why do we pay government?
 
Hello Jack,

Jack said:
Thank you. That is the usual Conservative view point.

Second Question: What if the 'Private Enterprise' is 'Critical Infrastructure'?
In other words, the Private Enterprise is not some T-Shirt Shop, Car Leasing Company, Banana Import-Export Business. The Private Enterprise is involved with National Security, like Nuclear Power Plants, or a Pipeline that supplies Fuel to a third of the nation?
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Anything like that, that's crucial to society, needs to have government involvement.

That's why liberals want universal healthcare. It only makes sense. I would be for government to either run or oversee all critical infrastructure. The power of big government is scary to people who fear government, but they lack the vision to see that big government can be our friend.

And it's very good to have powerful friends.

The bigger and badder the world gets, the bigger our government must be.

There is no way we could survive with the libertarian conservative Eutopia of the government of 1789 in the world of 2021.
 
Matt Dillon said:
What have they done since the Chinese hacked the traffic lights and power grid in Miami? Not a damn thing, maybe?

Why do we pay government?
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It will be interesting to see what 'Small-Government Conservatives' want to do about this attack on 'Critical Infrastructure'.
 
Jack said:
It will be interesting to see what 'Small-Government Conservatives' want to do about this attack on 'Critical Infrastructure'.
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You know somebody had to open an email to get that ransomware, right?

Should has anti-phishing tips posted by the PC.
 
PoliTalker said:
Hello Jack,



Anything like that, that's crucial to society, needs to have government involvement.

That's why liberals want universal healthcare. It only makes sense. I would be for government to either run or oversee all critical infrastructure. The power of big government is scary to people who fear government, but they lack the vision to see that big government can be our friend.

And it's very good to have powerful friends.

The bigger and badder the world gets, the bigger our government must be.

There is no way we could survive with the libertarian conservative Eutopia of the government of 1789 in the world of 2021.
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Many Conservatives are wedded to the idea of 'small government'. That 'Government' should be 'hands off' when it comes to Private Enterprise. I'm ready to hear the discussion that will follow this attack.
 
Hello Jack,

Jack said:
"This is as close as you can get to the jugular of infrastructure in the United States," said Amy Myers Jaffe, research professor and managing director of the Climate Policy Lab. "It's not a major pipeline. It's the pipeline."
https://www.reuters.com/technology/...ations-after-cybersecurity-attack-2021-05-08/

"Ben Sasse, a Republican senator from Nebraska and a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the cyberattack was a wakeup call for U.S. lawmakers.
"This is a play that will be run again, and we're not adequately prepared," he said, adding Congress should pass an infrastructure plan that hardens sectors against these attacks."

Looks like one Conservative Senator thinks 'Critical Infrastructure' (even though privately held) needs 'Government Assistance'.
Click to expand...

I would suggest dual computer systems.

A complete back-up, stand alone, dormant secondary system which completely mirrors the normal in-use one, but is not normally connected to the internet, and cannot be compromised through the normal weaknesses. Something happens to the primary one, just just it down, take it offline and switch over. Then rebuild the primary to serve as the new back-up. Tax the super-rich to pay for it.
 
Hello Jack,

Jack said:
Many Conservatives are wedded to the idea of 'small government'. That 'Government' should be 'hands off' when it comes to Private Enterprise. I'm ready to hear the discussion that will follow this attack.
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You've raised such a great point. The weakness of conservative thinking is being laid bare.
 
PoliTalker said:
Hello Jack,



I would suggest dual computer systems.

A complete back-up, stand alone, dormant secondary system which completely mirrors the normal in-use one, but is not normally connected to the internet, and cannot be compromised through the normal weaknesses. Something happens to the primary one, just just it down, take it offline and switch over. Then rebuild the primary to serve as the new back-up. Tax the super-rich to pay for it.
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OK. I elect you as 'Cyber Czar' for America Infrastructure. :)
 
Small government is small-minded thinking.

It needs to be dismissed.

We are a country. The government is our brain. We need a big brain.
 
Jack said:
I'm not sure how this occurred. I thought it had something to do with a downloaded App. (?)
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If it was an app, that would be on a phone. Same thing applies. Have backup\wipe phone\install backup.

My friend's kids got their comps ransomwared. Rather than fool around with stopping it from starting, I wiped 'um and had them running in 10 minutes apiece.

It'd take a little bit longer to restore a hard drive with specialty industrial software on it.
 
PoliTalker said:
Small government is small-minded thinking.

It needs to be dismissed.

We are a country. The government is our brain. We need a big brain.
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It seems something of this magnitude needs to be addressed on a national level. Needs to be viewed as a national threat. It's more than just a 'pipeline'. It's the entire Energy Sector, the Financial Sector.
 
Hello Jack,

Jack said:
OK. I elect you as 'Cyber Czar' for America Infrastructure. :)
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Thanks, but no thanks. I don't mind tossing ideas out there. That's easy. Following through is the hard part. I'm sure there are better qualified people for that. I'm happy to just chime in with a few thoughts once in a while, and I don't mind trying to solve big problems. All problems, big and small, are a challenge until the correct approach is discovered and utilized.

I imagine that since this is a for-profit company, and my suggestion would eat into the margin, that's why it is not done. It would take big in-your-face government to tell them: "You will do this."
 
PoliTalker said:
Hello Jack,



Thanks, but no thanks. I don't mind tossing ideas out there. That's easy. Following through is the hard part. I'm sure there are better qualified people for that. I'm happy to just chime in with a few thoughts once in a while, and I don't mind trying to solve big problems. All problems, big and small, are a challenge until the correct approach is discovered and utilized.

I imagine that since this is a for-profit company, and my suggestion would eat into the margin, that's why it is not done. It would take big in-your-face government to tell them: "You will do this."
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Alright, I will retract my Nomination of you. :)
 
Jack said:
I don't know what it was. I think the ransom is $50 million. So, probably a little more complex than you or I could figure out?
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No. Given enough time, I could stop the ransomware from starting and delete it.

Easier to wipe the drive and install backup.
 
Hello Jack,

Jack said:
It seems something of this magnitude needs to be addressed on a national level. Needs to be viewed as a national threat. It's more than just a 'pipeline'. It's the entire Energy Sector, the Financial Sector.
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Of course it is.

Just like the pandemic is a world threat, and big pharma should never have been allowed to profit from it. If society needs institutions to maintain prosperity and the General Welfare, those institutions cannot be solely for the profit of a few individuals.
I would have favored a government take-over of big pharma a long time ago. And now look at how debilitated we have become. We paid for all of the R&D to develop the vaccines, and they take 'ownership' of it, and balk when we want to open the life-saving technology up to the world. Big pharma only thinks in terms of profit. It is their reason for existing. Millions of lives should never depend on such a system.

Pharma companies should certainly be able to earn a living and those people should be paid well for what they do. No way I think they should operate at a loss. That would be absurd. They wouldn't be able to last. But they have society hooked on prescription drugs, and they bleed society for all the wealth they can. And that's not right. That should never be a 'free market' entity. For each patented drug, there is no competition. That is a monopoly. It's not free-market at all.
 
PoliTalker said:
Hello Jack,



Of course it is.

Just like the pandemic is a world threat, and big pharma should never have been allowed to profit from it. If society needs institutions to maintain prosperity and the General Welfare, those institutions cannot be solely for the profit of a few individuals.
I would have favored a government take-over of big pharma a long time ago. And now look at how debilitated we have become. We paid for all of the R&D to develop the vaccines, and they take 'ownership' of it, and balk when we want to open the life-saving technology up to the world. Big pharma only thinks in terms of profit. It is their reason for existing. Millions of lives should never depend on such a system.

Pharma companies should certainly be able to earn a living and those people should be paid well for what they do. No way I think they should operate at a loss. That would be absurd. They wouldn't be able to last. But they have society hooked on prescription drugs, and they bleed society for all the wealth they can. And that's not right. That should never be a 'free market' entity. For each patented drug, there is no competition. That is a monopoly. It's not free-market at all.
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When you're right, you're right. I think the government would be even worse at it, though.

There should be regulations. Regulations are what's needed.
 
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