The Internet’s Achilees Heel

The internet was envisioned by the creators of ARPANET to be a decentralized computing network for communication between terminals. Of course the internet as we know it today really took shape when Tim Berners-Lee invented the web, and all the tools necessary for working with it (http, html and the first web browser). The world’s ocean floors are crossed with the vital data carrying cables that make the World Wide Web possible, but only three of these span the Mediterranean linking Europe to the Middle East and North Africa. In 2008 these cables suffered a series of extremely unusual and suspicious circumstances which resulted in two of them being severed on January 30th and again on December 19th. The attributed causes are still somewhat murky. One was blamed on a wayward boat anchor, the other on tectonic shifting (earthquakes).

The severing of these cables proves just how fragile the internet is for people living in developing countries. Following the January incident the volume of voice and internet communication between India and Europe plummeted by 75%! The incidents were followed by other serious problems that cut communication for a portion of the middle east.

What’s the issue, and how can it be addressed? Alan Mauldin, research director with Washington-based telecommunications analyst TeleGeography Research, offers this…

One option is to bury them deeper and deeper, so they are not exposed to anchors.” But that does not protect against quakes. Alternative, overland, connections between Europe, the Middle East and Africa could, though.

Here the problem becomes one of politics, not engineering. “It’s possible to have a cable from Europe via Turkey, Iran and Iraq, down to Saudi Arabia, but who wants to put a cable through Iraq, Iran and Turkey?” says Mauldin. “If you think cables are at risk in the ocean, just wait till you put them across the land.”

The problem isn’t inherent to the region, some fault the technology itself. In 2006 an earthquake severed six cables connecting Taiwan to China and more than 50 cables alone were damaged world-wide in 2007. The Achilles heel, then, could be the physical infrastructure of the internet itself. Read more on this subject at New Scientist.

Image by TeleGeography