How a UGA administrator may have prevented World War III

By Albert DeSimone

I happily toiled as a mid-level administrator for the better part of my career at The University of Georgi, where I was a communications director in the IT department with an identity problem.

"You don't need to know corn to sell corn flakes.”

This old business maxim might resonate with some, but not me. If I was going to “sell” IT services, I felt it necessary to learn about those services. So I did.

I acquired a bit of a reputation for my ability to “talk technical” in understandable English. At the same time, I had developed a highly valued relationship with Tom Jackson, vice president for public affairs at UGA at that time.

The two came together about 15 years ago when I received an email from a faculty member on behalf of his colleague. The colleague was in China and was unable to access certain UGA online sources.

Welcome to the Great Firewall of China. The firewall is a digital curtain around China that prevents those inside the curtain from accessing specific Internet sites and services outside the curtain.

I was asked if I could help. As it turned out, I had a solution: a Virtual Private Network (VPN). VPNs are software used today for the same reason they were used then. You’re in one place physically, and in another place virtually.

It’s called “bypassing content geo-restrictions.” People use them to access region-locked media on streaming devices like Netflix, watch location-restricted live sports broadcasts, and take advantage of location-discounted airline tickets.

UGA had recently installed hardware and software to support VPN transactions. I was geared up to offer the solution when I thought It might be a good idea to run this past Dr. Jackson.

I explained the situation, asked what he thought I should do, and after careful consideration he said:

“Do you want to start an international incident?”

I figured the conversation was over at that point. We exchanged our cordial goodbyes. Then I gave what Dr. Jackson said some thought.

I thought it prudent to keep the VPN solution to myself.

To this day, I’m not sure if he was speaking hyperbolically, but the shock of what he said was on the level.

Could an event so seemingly insignificant as breaching the Great Firewall of China cause a major international event? Could it actually be the immediate cause of WWIII?

Maybe we should ask Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

Albert DeSimone lives in Bishop