The Information Superhighway Becomes International

Jerry Sheehan — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:27:09 -0700

Description

Prior to the last decade most data networks were routed through the United States. It was not uncommon for traffic from one European country to find itself being hauled to the US prior to being delivered to an EU neighbor.
However, we are clearly witnessing a major transition in this position as the exceptional pace of the development of international high speed network creation quickens.

This growth has been fueled by a number of factors. First, nations have begun to look at high speed networking as a necessary infrastructure for economic growth. A number of futurists have argued that today's networks are as importance economically as the sea routes and roads of yesterday.[1] Second, a number of countries in a post-911 world began to become concerned that American intelligence agencies might be "easedropping" on their data communications for either political or economic gain.[2] This de facto collaboration between American telecommunications companies and federal agencies is now an accepted fact.[3]

The globalization of the world's information infrastructure was a natural consequence of the increased adoption of the Internet throughout the world. One of the interesting challenges for the American marketplace is the development of methods to capitalize on the increasing percentage of international traffic coming to US web sites. The Wall Street Journal has reported that most major US sites not draw more then half their audience from international visitors but only generate 5% of their revenue from this traffic.[4]

This data infrastructure globalization will also likely lead to an increase in "dark" budgets used by intelligence agencies for electronic surveillance. J. McConnel, Director of National Intelligence for the United States, has revealed in the course of investigation of the Bush Administration's wireless wiretapping program that the US domestically wiretaps thousand of international calls.[5] As these communications move overseas the US will need to expend more effort and technological prowess to keep up.

Computer & Information Science

Source

1] "Can Optic Cables Predict Economic Shifts?", Om Malik, BusinessWeek, August 18, 2008
[2] "Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the U.S.", John Markoff, New York Times, August 29, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/business/30pipes.html
[3] "Verizon and Government Seek Dismissal of Data-Mining Programs on Secrecy and Free Speech Grounds", Ryan Singel, Wired, August 30, 2007, http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/verizon-and-gov.html#previouspost
[4]"U.S. Web Sites Draw Traffic From Abroad But Few Ads", Emily Steel and Amol Sharma, Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2008, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121563492172840249.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
[5]"Spy Chief Sheds Light on Wiretaps", Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2007, http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/23/nation/na-intel23

spying

The Information Superhighway Becomes International

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