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Web posted
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington demonstrated the effectiveness of the Internet, e-mail and features like instant messaging when cellular and regular telephone systems are either down or swamped.
Alaska businesswoman Victoria Parham, who provides administrative and support services to widely scattered clients through electronic information technologies, said she was unable to get through to relatives and clients in the New York and Washington areas for hours after the attacks because local phone systems were jammed.
The Internet's ability to work around damaged phone systems, finding alternate pathways, was well demonstrated in the hours after the Sept. 11 attacks. Regular telephone lines, which include dedicated data lines used by major corporations and government agencies, do not have this self-detouring capability.
"We resorted to mass e-mail and used instant messager, which proved very effective," Parham said. Clients in the New York area who were unable to use cellular phones took their laptops, searched for a working pay phone, and were able to plug in to the Internet.
"If you need to get a message through asking if things are ok, or to let people know you're all right, instant message services work very well," she said.
These are systems that pop open a window or ring a bell on a computer screen when a message comes through. Parham uses AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Instant Messenger, both of which can be downloaded for free from the Internet. "You can send text, and they even have the capability of transmitting voice. It's not as clear as a telephone, but it's fine if all you need to say is, 'I'm all right,' " she said.
Parham said she and others on her e-mail networks also relayed messages to and from people trying to reach relatives in the areas affected by the attacks.
"I was unable to call New Jersey for four hours, but I was able to get messages through on instant messenger," she said.
There are 35 people she works with in various parts of the country, and overseas, on an e-mail network. Almost all were engaged through the afternoon and night of Sept. 11, passing messages for anxious friends and relatives.
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