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US No Longer the World's Internet Hub

museumpeace brings us a New York Times story about how internet traffic is increasingly flowing around the US as web-based industries catch up in other parts of the world. Other issues, such as the Patriot Act, have made foreign companies wary about having their data on US servers. From the NYTimes: "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."

16 of 433 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Good Riddance by emandres · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm pretty sure the world has a center... but it'd be a heck of a feat trying to cool that server farm.

    --
    The only way to tell the difference between a hamster and a gerbil is that the hamster has more white meat.
  2. Just a marketing problem by bigtallmofo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Other countries wouldn't have a problem with routing their traffic through the United States if we had good public relations...

    "For every packet your country sends through the U.S., you will automatically be entered in a drawing for one of your citizens to win an all-expenses paid trip to exotic, sunny Cuba!"

    That would get them excited!

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
    1. Re:Just a marketing problem by pablomme · · Score: 3, Funny

      "For every packet your country sends through the U.S., you will automatically be entered in a drawing for one of your citizens to win an all-expenses paid trip to exotic, sunny Cuba!"

      "And depending on the packet's contents, participants may qualify for accommodation in our luxury Guantanamo Bay resort."

      --
      The state you are in while your HEAD is detached... - wait, what?
  3. and i think its important by nimbius · · Score: 4, Funny

    to stop this harmful globalization of our internet. i mean, its america where the tubes are and it needs to stay that way. globalization of the internet harms our way of life, and the future of our children.

    why, just last week a boy in arkansas was forced to GeoIP his way to a foreign server so he could has cheezburger. what next? rich icons like goatse and the fat lightsaber guy? but only in that weird numa numa language? the mustard man hosted in russia?

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  4. Re:Pick your favorite intelligence agency by LordKaT · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, because American intelligence agencies have morals!

  5. Re:Good Riddance by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aha! So that's what Al Gore was proving with global warming! That the world's servers are overheating.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  6. Re:Good Riddance by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Earth has a center, because it is a sphere. But no one lives outside a small band +/- 400m from the surface, so "the world" is a shell that has no center.

    No one except the Mole Men, and they've got their own Internet. Which is really more an "Infranet", but that's their problem.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  7. Re:Thanks, washington by CaptainTux · · Score: 3, Funny

    high-speed pizza delivery

    And that whole pizza delivery thing will be gone as soon as we start hearing someone answering the phone as

    Thank you for calling Domino's Pizza. This is Agent Jentson speaking, how can I help you?"

    --
    Anthony Papillion
    Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
    "Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
  8. Re:Good Riddance by corsec67 · · Score: 4, Funny

    So you are saying I could leave the world by going up or down?

    Hmm, I think there are religions based on that...

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
  9. Better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How about we have an international network that is completely free from politics and that politicians can't touch?

  10. Re:Thanks, washington by Tim+Browse · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah, you Americans and your quaint complaining about the price of petrol :-).

  11. As long as the Pirate Bay still works by vistahator · · Score: 1, Funny

    then i'm ok.

  12. Re:Just A thought. by Wellington+Grey · · Score: 2, Funny

    What if the rest of the world bypassed and then disconnected the United States from the Internet.

    Most Americans wouldn't notice.

    -Grey

  13. Re:Not surprising by Zombie · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yep, and now the Internet routes around brain damage.

  14. Re:No surprising by nospam007 · · Score: 2, Funny

    >..I am comming from a country were something similar happened (Venezuela).

    Is that you, Hugo?

  15. Re:Not surprising by Stanislav_J · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yep, and now the Internet routes around brain damage.

    Really? I thought it ran on brain damage...

    --
    "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Eric Hoffer