Communications of the ACM
Experts See Potential Perils in Brazil Push to Break With U.s.-Centric Internet Over Nsa Spying
Brazil's response to the U.S. National Security Agency's online spying program involves a plan to remove itself from the U.S.-centric Internet.
Credit: Ricardo Moraes/Associated Press
Brazil is planning to remove itself from the U.S.-centric Internet in the aftermath of the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) online spying program, a move that could be a dangerous first step toward fracturing a global network built with minimal interference by governments.
The Brazilian government's reaction to NSA's spying program could set the Internet on a course of Balkanization, according to Internet security and policy experts. "The global backlash is only beginning and will get far more severe in coming months," says Open Technology Institute director Sascha Meinrath. "This notion of national privacy sovereignty is going to be an increasingly salient issue around the globe."
Meinrath says the danger of mandating the kind of geographic isolation Brazil is considering is that it could render inoperable popular software applications and services and endanger the Internet's open, interconnected structure. Several countries advocating greater "cyber-sovereignty" recently pushed for control at an International Telecommunications Union meeting, with Western democracies led by the United States and the European Union in opposition.
From Associated Press
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