The internet's vulnerability

[ben_meyers]

With all the speculation about recent cable breaks this may put some of it into perspective.

The recent outage of telecommunications service in the Middle East shows that while the internet is famously resilient, it remains remarkably easy to cut millions off of the network.(snip)

While the cause of the damage is still being investigated, experts agree that it is not unusual for undersea cables to fail. "Cables are damaged all the time. The ocean is a very dynamic and corrosive place," Eric Schoonover, a senior analyst with TeleGeography Research told ISN Security Watch. He cited a statistic from Global Marine, a cable repair company, that there were more than 50 faults in the North Atlantic last year alone.

In December 2006, an earthquake off the coast of Taiwan cut six of the main lines serving East Asia, causing service interruptions across the region that persisted for months. Pakistan's sole fiber-optic cable link to the outside world failed for 11 days in June 2005, virtually isolating the country from the global network. Many island nations, as well countries in Africa and Asia, are connected by only one loop of fiber optic cable to the global network, making their service particularly at risk.

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=18661

50 faults in just the North Atlantic last year alone, that's 4 a month!

Maybe it's not as sinister as it looks.

[Hydra]

1. Ya, and no cable cutting was involved the other week

:sarcasm:

One day, I suppose it will be entirely wireless. I wonder what the excuse will be then?

[Uncle Joe]

2. I believe more than anything else, the Internet is vulnerable to corrupted power addicted

governments too afraid of allowing the people to have a voice, when the truth starts hitting close to home. If the old adage power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely holds any truth, then ultimately I see no other alternative. It's just a matter of when, I also believe this was the prime reason, the established corporate media slandered and libeled the Internet's primary political champion for so long, they didn't want him in the White House. They wanted someone in the White House willing to appoint judges pre-disposed to selling the First Amendment short while also illegally wiretapping the American People on the Internet.

[Zywiec]

3. Since when has perspective trumped good ol' tinfoilery? n/t

[Uncle Joe]

4. I guess it depends on who's perspective you're asking for? n/t