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Growing Commercialization Threatens Net Security
dr3vil writes "The BBC is reporting that the concentration of the net's backbone in fewer hands has made it more vulnerable to attack. The report compares an attack to travel problems when traffic is disrupted at O'Hare. Hopefully someone in a position to act will pay attention."
I'm puzzled why this was rated as ``off-topic''. Guess there wasn't enough anti-Microsoft content.
I think the analogy with the airlines' penchant for these hub airports is right on target. (Though I think O'Hare gets an unfair level of criticism; problems in Denver -- especially in the winter -- and Dallas cause similar levels of disruption.) The airlines do it because it cuts costs. No need for as many mechanics and all the other ground personnel if you concentrate your operations in fewer sites. Same thing with data centers. C-level execs just love it when they can consolidate data centers because they can cut their leased office space costs, operations staff, etc. (Though, somehow, they never seem to catch on about the problem this causes with disaster recovery and then bawk at how much it costs to keep a second site available.) So why would we be surprised that the bean-counter mentality is found to exist within the companies that are providing the basic internet connectivity? After all they (the bean counters) are doing their job and if others in the company can't do their job of making sure the networks are available... well that's the other guy's problem. Too bad maximizing shareholder return was allowed to override the job of maintaining an available network.
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... governments controlling major POP's? How do you think that you get broadband in your bedroom? Big companies. If not for those big companies, the Net wouldn't exist. Everything costs money. You can't have your cake & eat it too.