Comments on: What the hell is happening to the Internet in the Middle East? http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/02/01/what-the-hell-is-happening-to-the-internet/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Cyde Weys http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/02/01/what-the-hell-is-happening-to-the-internet/comment-page-1/#comment-15085 Cyde Weys Sun, 03 Feb 2008 05:44:46 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/02/01/what-the-hell-is-happening-to-the-internet/#comment-15085 One of my friends who works in the networking field points out that this isn't the first time whole countries or regions have largely been isolated from the overall Internet due to cable failures. It turns out there's less redundancy than we tend to think, at least for many of the less developed nations (the USA, for instance, has so many incoming connections from all directions that we'll never go dark). The thing that gets me though is that we've seen three cable failures in three days. That's one hell of a coincidence. But it may be a coincidence none the less. The news isn't running any sort of story that this is anything more than just a series of independent accidents. It's possible, but I would think, unlikely. One of my friends who works in the networking field points out that this isn’t the first time whole countries or regions have largely been isolated from the overall Internet due to cable failures. It turns out there’s less redundancy than we tend to think, at least for many of the less developed nations (the USA, for instance, has so many incoming connections from all directions that we’ll never go dark).

The thing that gets me though is that we’ve seen three cable failures in three days. That’s one hell of a coincidence. But it may be a coincidence none the less. The news isn’t running any sort of story that this is anything more than just a series of independent accidents. It’s possible, but I would think, unlikely.

]]> By: drinian http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/02/01/what-the-hell-is-happening-to-the-internet/comment-page-1/#comment-14933 drinian Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:11:17 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/02/01/what-the-hell-is-happening-to-the-internet/#comment-14933 It's worth noting that the current numbers for South America are even lower. I don't know if that's normal or not. People would have to be pretty crazy to cut off Net access to India, though. And if Iran wanted to cut off terrestrial Internet access, there'd be much easier ways. Considering the US has historically encouraged anonymous use of the Internet inside Iran, it would be a pretty big policy shift on their part as well. Undersea cable cuts happen pretty frequently. Someone on Slashdot mentioned that Singapore had a lot of connectivity issues after fishermen "salvaged" fiber optic cables, thinking that they were as valuable as the disused copper cables they are allowed to drag up. Ordinarily, I would guess that it was the USS Jimmy Carter putting some eavesdropping splices in for the NSA, but they're not so obvious in their work. It’s worth noting that the current numbers for South America are even lower. I don’t know if that’s normal or not. People would have to be pretty crazy to cut off Net access to India, though. And if Iran wanted to cut off terrestrial Internet access, there’d be much easier ways. Considering the US has historically encouraged anonymous use of the Internet inside Iran, it would be a pretty big policy shift on their part as well.

Undersea cable cuts happen pretty frequently. Someone on Slashdot mentioned that Singapore had a lot of connectivity issues after fishermen “salvaged” fiber optic cables, thinking that they were as valuable as the disused copper cables they are allowed to drag up. Ordinarily, I would guess that it was the USS Jimmy Carter putting some eavesdropping splices in for the NSA, but they’re not so obvious in their work.

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