"One hopes that in the event of a major disaster in the first world, that organizations such as the Red Cross would establish internet connections in their emergency shelters just so people could pass brief messages via Facebook or other means."

that's actually an excellent idea. But I doubt that the Red Cross has that kind of comms equipment, or the budget to make it happen. It's really the kind of thing that the NSA should consider doing for Americans - they are the folks with the brilliant communications systems. YES, the good-old-NSA who gets all the bad press. But WHAT IF, they decided to do something nice???

Pete