Dismantling a production system that is contractually bound to offer "five nines" (99.999% uptime, or about 50 minutes of downtime annually) or some similar connectivity requirement, even if the innernetz does go offline in a Stalinesque way, is going to result in IT geeks without jobs and lawyers with LOTS of paperwork to handle.
Which ISPs offer 5 9s of reliability? Better yet, which ones offer it, offer SLAs based on it, and meet those SLAs? I built a managed VPN service years for a Treasgov project ago that boasted SLAs for 99.999% uptime. You'd think we promised the world when potential customers heard that figure.
Not once did I have to pay penalties either.
I suspect that most/all professional ISPs will sit out an internet blackout due to contractual litigation fears, more than fears of government repercussions.
Actually, more because they're selling services to the govt. .Gov uses a lot of commercially available ISP services nationwide. I doubt you'd find an ISP that didn't sell services to the govt at some level.
Chris
