Communications of the ACM
Syria Outage Sheds Light on U.s. 'kill Switch' Concerns
Syria and as many as 60 other countries are at a severe risk of being disconnected from the Internet because of lack of redundancy in their telecommunications connections to the outside world, according to a recent Renesys report. However, the report rated the United States, Canada, and many Western European nations as "resistant to risk," while other countries were rated at "significant" or "low risk" or being disconnected.
The analysis found that concerns that an Internet "kill switch" could cut people off are unwarranted in the United States, says Renesys' Earl Zmijewski. "Syria is not the U.S., it is not Canada, and it's not Western Europe," Zmijewski says. "There is no way to simply shut down connectivity." The analysis of the relative resistance of a country's network to disconnection is based on the number of providers that connect to the outside world, not the number of physical connections.
Renesys' James Cowie notes that comments on the study indicate that most people were concerned about their country's vulnerability to being disconnected. "It's interesting that most people who are suggesting modifications to [our] model believe that their country is much more vulnerable to disconnection," Cowie says.
From eWeek
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