OK, so that headline is a little overdone, but the Government Accountability Office says in a new report (Washington Post article here) that if the H1N1 pandemic gets really bad and a bazillion people stay home from work and try to telecommute all at once, it could bring the Series of Tubes known as the Internet to its knees. From the story:

The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of communications networks during times of national emergency. But it doesn’t have a strategy to deal with overloaded Internet networks — an essential resource to keep the economy humming, and residents informed and connected during a pandemic, the GAO said. Furthermore, the DHS hasn’t coordinated with agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission to create guidelines for how telecom, cable and satellite providers can minimize congestion.

Just as long as I can still get to Desktop Tower Defense, I’ll be all right.

Tags: H1N1