I caught this article by Jon Van in the Chicago Tribune Apparently a fishing trawler dragged its anchor across the bottom of the Mediterranean & severed a cable that was part of the backbone between the Middle East & Europe. To quote the article: “Anything that interrupts international connections is a big deal,” said Tom Weekland, a managing partner at the Chicago-based Diamond Management and Technology consultancy. “Hospitals get imaging diagnostics from Asian radiologists. Even small companies have payrolls prepared in India. If connections are broken, or even degraded, it impacts business here.”
It blows my mind that something as innocuous as an old fishing boat can screw up the international digital network. It paints a pretty surreal picture of an incredibly antiquated old schooler sabotaging all of the crack/blackberry-heads. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more terrorist attempts at these kinds of disruptions. If they really want to mess with the developed world, they should disrupt the money flow, & bringing down the internet does that. If they do, Chicago will be a target, as 1 of the biggest internet connection points in the world. Obviously, redundancy is the solution, but with varied routes rather than just along the same track.
