Monday Morning: In tangle of terror, web proves essential

Like most other Americans, I awoke on that awful Tuesday two weeks ago and witnessed the tragic scenes on television.

The two Word Trade Center towers in New York were engulfed in flames, and the Pentagon was burning out of control. First, I was hit with disbelief, then shock, then a need to get in touch with family, friends and colleagues.

That’s when the nightmare really began.

I was in San Francisco attending a conference. My office is in New York, and I have family members living in Washington.

From the outset, the telephone, our primary means of communication, was useless. Each call ended in a frustrating electronic monotone: “We’re sorry, all circuits are busy. Please try your call again later.”

In desperation, I sat down at my laptop computer and dialed AOL. Since it was a local call, I had no trouble getting through.

Within a few minutes, I had a connection – and e-mail.

Landmark event

I began firing off messages to everyone that I had been trying to reach on the telephone. This time, the reply was far more heartening: “Your message has been sent,” flashed on the screen each time I hit the send button.

Without realizing it right away, I was taking part in a landmark event.

It was the first real test of the Internet in a national emergency, when communications in the first minutes and hours of a crisis can be critically important.

The disaster at the World Trade Center and heavy call volume knocked out telephone service in Manhattan. Phone traffic also thwarted all attempts to reach Washington.

In fact, telephone service was down for the count for the entire week. But our Internet connection, although also interrupted, was rerouted, and sporadic service was reestablished within a few hours.

Not long afterward, I began to receive replies to my e-mails. The Internet was proving its mettle.

Don’t get me wrong; this is not a commercial for AOL. But if they asked me to make one, I would.

During those first critical hours after the attack, e-mails were the only way to reach colleagues and family. Beyond that, I was also able to cut through the breathless hype of television news by clicking on the websites of major newspapers around the country.

Without it, I’m sure millions of us would have been subjected to countless hours of anxiety, frustration and gut-wrenching uncertainty.

It’s pretty much accepted these days that the Internet will someday become an integral part of our life, beyond just being a conduit to shop, play games and look up the latest sports scores.

For me, that day arrived Sept. 11.

As the nation takes up the challenge of waging a long, unconventional war against international terrorism, I believe the Internet will emerge as one of the most important developments of the last half of the 20th century. It’s likely to exceed the role that radio played during World War II.

Already, federal agencies and even the FBI are using websites as a means to communicate vital information to the country.

In that sense, providing low-cost, high-speed Internet access to every household in the nation should become a national priority on par with building the interstate highway system in the 1950s.

That goal, however, plays into a protracted and heated debate on Capitol Hill over the future of broadband Internet access.

Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to deregulate the industry. The goal was to foster competition and speed innovations such as high-speed Internet access.

While the act has accomplished some of what Congress intended, it has also produced an endless bureaucratic war in the courts and before federal agencies.

On one side are the regional Baby Bell telephone systems, such as Verizon Communications Inc. Facing them are a host of upstart companies known as competitive local exchange carriers, or Clecs.

Although the battle has received very little publicity, its outcome is critically important to the future of the Internet.

First and foremost, it will determine who gets service, who provides it and at what cost.

Businesses and consumers already had a huge stake in its outcome before the recent chain of events.

But now, the Internet is more than just a convenience.

It’s essential.

Keith Girard is the editor of InvestmentNews.