Tech | August 30, 2008 | 28 comments

Internet traffic begins to bypass the U.S.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/business/30pipes.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

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bshipp
The era of the American Internet is ending.

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.”
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28 comments // Internet traffic begins to bypass the U.S.

  • Ragan
    • 0
      Ragan  

    • I thought a Patriot was someone who was loyal to his country. What has this to do with the patriot act? And contrary to AL Gore and others who think that the original internet was born here in the states, I was informed it was created and born at what is now known as Cern Switzerland and the former particle accelerator and now known as the Large Hadron Collider. Lets not fabricate history. The truth is always better for posterity and humanity.

    • 3 years ago
  • ghostbar
    • 0
      ghostbar  

    • Is not only the Patriotic Act but all the liberty violations an all the net-neutrality stuff scares people who like the internet and don't want to go back to intranets with links to other intranets as was before...

    • 3 years ago
  • satanskidney
    • 0
      satanskidney  

    • im glad that the government is spying on us i mean maybe theyll figure out theyre doing their job all wrong.
      theyre probably searching for osama bin ladin on myspace as we speak.

    • 3 years ago
  • CarlosIsDown
  • blurt
  • backwardspecies
  • Bovey
    • 0
      Bovey  

    • I suspect that this has very little to do with US Government policy, and nearly everything to do with the fact that other countries around the world have been beefing up their Internet infrastructure, so much of this traffic no longer has a need to go through the US to get where it's going.

      Unless you feel that the US Government has some inherent right to spy on all of the people of the world, then I really don't see why this should even concern anyone.

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteCrow22
    • 0
      WhiteCrow22  
    • Bovey:

      It is a good thing that other countries do not buy into Bushit McCheney McSamey's fearmongering. Just because the US has become less of a democracy doesn't mean that those other democracies that are left have to go along for the ride. Since we have given up the role of world democratic leader, it is important that others fill in until we get our act together, if we ever do.

      I do not want my government listening in on any of my conversations without a warrant. Not because I am dong anything illegal, quite the opposite, who knows what info is being shared by our gov with its cronies in the business world, illegally? If they lie to us about their reasons for going to war, and abuse their power to eavesdrop on us, both illegal, then why should they protect our private information? Why wouldn't they share valuable confidential information with one of their corporate cronies, if it suited them?

      How do you know that the money in your pocket is not being used to listen in on your conversations with friends and family in the privacy of your own home? With all of the wiring they have installed in the cash we carry, and the phones we use, the possibility is real.

      Personally, I think the whole thing is a real waste. We are all connected on a spiritual level, and someday we will all understand that truth. When that happens, fearfully greedy people's need to cheat will disappear.

    • 3 years ago
  • ohhellsno
  • DJMatt2
    • 0
      DJMatt2  

    • Blame the Bush Imperium for some of it if you wish, but another part of the problem is because of the providers like Comcast, AT&T, AOL, and others, because they believe that they must stifle Internet use, partly because they wasted more money trying to get as many subscribers than in fixing up their infrastructure to handle all of those subscribers downloading all of the movies and songs that they advertised.

      I clearly remember more than ten years ago when AOL heavily advertised their unlimited access program, and then they realized that they didn't have the hardware to handle all of those people. Here's the original article:

      http://brutallyhonestcolumn.blogspot.com/1997/02/week-of-02031997.html

      In truth, our providers have been fumbling and bumbling around, trying to keep everything together with bubblegum and duct tape, and then taking offense when the people who signed up DARED to take them up on the full use of the service.

    • 3 years ago
  • Robroy1
    • 0
      Robroy1  

    • Another fine example of Bush and Co.'s policies coming back to bite the American people. One more reason to impeach and inprison Bush and Co. As the reason's add up.

    • 3 years ago
  • justright
  • huntre
  • joshuaheller
  • huntre
  • justright
  • kennymotown
    • 0
      kennymotown  

    • This is the price we pay for Republican freedom, isn't it? So many people over the years that I have talked too
      say why vote the president can't do anything about anything. Well I think over the past 8 years we have seen what a president can do. VOTE!

    • 3 years ago
  • geneonlbk
    • 0
      geneonlbk  

    • If Bushit and Shamey were not such idealogical idiots it would not be so sad. These two men? have gone the extra light-year to destroy our nation. One might even think that they are working for all the foreign powers as secret agents doing their best to destabilize our country.

      Remember how much better off we were before they seized power?

      And all the Sheeple sing "La tee da."

    • 3 years ago
  • justright
  • Bovey
    • 0
      Bovey  
    • justright:

      The government needs the cooperation of Internet Service Providers is order to intercept the data. The United States government has a considerable amount of power to strong arm domestic companies (such as AT&T) into cooperating. They have considerably less influence over foreign providers.

    • 3 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • LindseyIndigo
    • 0
      LindseyIndigo  

    • I know its a really stupid question, but can someone explain really simply why it even matters if internet traffic does or doesn't pass through the US?

    • 3 years ago
  • bshipp
    • +1
      bshipp  
    • LindseyIndigo:

      "Data is increasingly flowing around the United States, which may have intelligence — and conceivably military — consequences. "

      and

      "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."

      Ironically, it is the fact that US government policies like the Patriot Act allow for intelligence gathering that appears to be driving other nations to avoid passing data through the US:

      “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.”

    • 3 years ago
  • AntiFacistCanuck
  • Bovey
  • polkey1
    • 0
      polkey1  

    • yeah the military cant wait to get their hands on all those freed up waves. i wonder what their going to use them for?

    • 3 years ago
  • Pericles_Lewnes
  • isnamthere
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