Invented by American computer scientists during the 1970s, the Internet has been embraced around the globe. During the network’s first three decades, most Internet traffic flowed through the United States. In many cases, data sent between two locations within a given country also passed through the United States.
Engineers who help run the Internet said that it would have been impossible for the United States to maintain its hegemony over the long run because of the very nature of the Internet; it has no central point of control.
And now, the balance of power is shifting. Data is increasingly flowing around the United States, which may have intelligence — and conceivably military — consequences.
American intelligence officials have warned about this shift. “Because of the nature of global telecommunications, we are playing with a tremendous home-field advantage, and we need to exploit that edge,” Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2006. “We also need to protect that edge, and we need to protect those who provide it to us.”
Indeed, Internet industry executives and government officials have acknowledged that Internet traffic passing through the switching equipment of companies based in the United States has proved a distinct advantage for American intelligence agencies. In December 2005, The New York Times reported that the National Security Agency had established a program with the cooperation of American telecommunications firms that included the interception of foreign Internet communications.
Some Internet technologists and privacy advocates say those actions and other government policies may be hastening the shift in Canadian and European traffic away from the United States.
“Since passage of the Patriot Act, many companies based outside of the United States have been reluctant to store client information in the U.S.,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. “There is an ongoing concern that U.S. intelligence agencies will gather this information without legal process. There is particular sensitivity about access to financial information as well as communications and Internet traffic that goes through U.S. switches.”The era of the American Internet is ending.
Invented by American computer... more
"My email got all tangled up by comercial entities! These comercail entities use fed ex and they want to use the internet, its not something you just dump on, its a series of tubes!""My email got all tangled up by comercial entities! These comercail entities use fed... more
tying together the threads of social graph data based on web 2.0 profiling interaction is virtually untapped thus far. move over "import friends from mail" work flows.tying together the threads of social graph data based on web 2.0 profiling interaction... more
Ever wonder how to actually map all the interconnections in the internet? Ever wonder how to plunge an entire geographic area or business culture into radio silence? Then make sure to visit Opte.org's internet mapping project. Pretty cool.Ever wonder how to actually map all the interconnections in the internet? Ever wonder... more
Right now, databases are all the product of (more or less) intelligent design. What if they could evolve and grow in response to "environmental pressures" -- e.g. the stress of everyday use, or new connections that users were making of their own accord? (I am trying to make it sound like I actually understand this article. I don't. But I really like it.)Right now, databases are all the product of (more or less) intelligent design. What if... more
no word on whether the tubes have been clogged or delayed by the "enormous amounts of material"....no word on whether the tubes have been clogged or delayed by the "enormous amounts of... more
