Friday, 02.08.08
The case of the disabled cable
In Arabic, 'Internet' Means 'Freedom'
6 March 2007
Jonathan Rauch on an internet-based effort to spark Arab liberalism.
For many of us the internet is like oxygen: we don't think about it until our high-speed connections fail us, at which point it is all we can think about. Pity the unfortunate Arabs and Indians who were impacted by the cut cables, particularly those working in offshore call centers and other businesses that depend on them to make a living. We've long known that this infrastructure is vulnerable, but it took real economic pain to drive the point home. The Saudis and the UAE have signed a deal on a new telecommunications cable, one that will make sabotage rather more difficult. But it's worth noting that Arab states have done a far more effective job of crippling the internet than any would-be saboteurs. A few years back, Jonathan Zittrain and Ben Edelman of Harvard Law School prepared a comprehensive review of websites banned by Saudi authorities. Though the blacklist has certainly changed since, rest assured there is still a powerful censor who is deciding what Saudis can and cannot learn about marijuana seeds and Queer Christians.
A Cable Cabal?Ryan Singel dismisses the more outlandish cable-cutting conspiracy theories, but notes that even the most skeptical experts find something fishy about the geographical concentration and timing of the cuts. |
Down the TubesJohn Robb, the systems disruption guru, offers his observations on the attack and the vulnerabilities of the internet's infrastructure. It is more likely than not that nation-states will target these cables as a means of economic coercion. |
