Splinternet: The Web is fracturing into regional internets

Over the last few months there has been a flood of reports from a host of journalists as well as me, predicting the imminent fragmentation of the Internet we have all known” an unrestricted global network.  Some, including Eric Schmidt of Google, and others have argued that it is a recent phenomenon precipitated largely by the NSA Prsim and Thinthread snooping of all Internet traffic, and perhaps also including Chinese military snooping.  On the other side of this debate, Bill Gates, Vin Cerf, and Mark Andreeson have all pooh poohed the end of the Internet as we know it, arguing that it is “too big to fail.” Where have we heard that before? The reality is that the fragmentation of the Internet has been evolving for years as numerous governments attempt to prevent the Internet from undermining their power and authority, long before the NSA, GCHQ and the Chinese military began messing with the Net.  The old Internet we knew is dead, and we had better get accustomed to dealing with the NEW Internet

The Digital Utopian Vision of Marshall McLuhan and Stewart Brand Is Cracking

It appears to me that the original vision and promise of the Internet, referred to by many as Digital Utopianism, is at severe risk of deteriorating into a “balkanized”  and severely impaired World Wide Web.

Internet barriers, censorship, protectionist Internet policy, and ubiquitous surveillance seem to be the emerging new reality.  Notable digital luminaries the likes of Vin Cerf and Bill Gates have been questioned on this point, and both have expressed no major concern about deterioration of the freedom of the Internet or with the original Utopian vision.  The argument is that the World Wide Web cannot be effectively blocked or censored.  Google would probably respond that their “loon balloons” could simply be launched to counter censorship. As a long time Silicon Valley high tech executive, I understand this optimistic view, but the facts on the ground are now providing serious evidence that the Internet is under attack, and may not survive unless there is a significant shift in these new trends.

This week alone, Turkey’s Erdogan has tried to block both Twitter and YouTube to prevent Turks from viewing evidence of his corrupt government. This morning’s New York Times reports Edward Snowden’s latest revelation.  While the U.S. government and media were investigating and publicly reporting on Chinese government Internet espionage and Chinese network equipment manufacturer Huawei, the NSA, the British GCHQ and Canada’s  Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) ,  were all collaborating, doing exactly the same thing. The hypocrisy and irony of this is not lost on either the Chinese or the Internet community. CBS 60 Minutes reported on the Chinese espionage, but has been essentially silent on NSA’s own transgressions. 60 Minutes even broadcast a report that NSA metadata was essentially harmless, which has now been shown to be false. The 60 Minutes objective reporting problem is the canary in the coal mine of the corporate takeover of media and the Web.  Protectionist policies in various countries targeted against Google, Microsoft and others are emerging. One of the many negative effects of the NSA revelations was the announcement this week that the United States was giving up control of the International Committee for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which essentially sets Internet traffic policy. Finally, this week, Netflix spoke out forcefully against the “peering agreement” it was blackmailed into signing with Comcast to insure “quality of service” (QOS) for Netflix programming to the edges of the Web.

Read more: NSA breached Chinese servers

Read more: Netflix Thinks Peering Should Be A Net Neutrality Issue

I recently came across Professor Fred Turner, Professor of Communication at Stanford. It has been a revelation for me.  His book, “From Counterculture to Cyberculture’ is an acclaimed milestone work. Turner has articulated the World I lived in the counterculture of the 1960’s and in the early Silicon Valley. His work explaining the evolution from the “counterculture” of the 1960’s to the emerging new “cyberculture” of the late 1980’s and 1990’s is an excellent record of that time in northern California.  This was the World of Steve Jobs at that time and his personal evolvement to a digital Utopian.  It is detailed in Jobs biography, and in Jobs wonderful Stanford University 2005 commencement speech, in which he also acknowledged the importance of Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth Catalog.  This was also my countercultural World as a Communications student at San Jose State at that time, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, and subsequent high tech career, beginning at Intel Corporation.  But even Professor Turner has expressed his own ambivalence about the future direction of the Web, though only from the standpoint of less worrying lack of diversity of Web communities. My concern is much more deeply based on current evidence and much more ominous.

Fred Turner, Stanford Professor of Communication – Counterculture to Cyberculture

Stewart Brand, the father of the Whole Earth Catalog and the original digital utopia visionary, has been rethinking its basic concepts. Brand has come around 180 degrees from environmental Utopianism based on “back to the land,” and is now embracing the future importance of urban enclaves. While this new urban view is now a widely held idea by many futurists, it can also be viewed as another facet of the end of digital utopia.  This TEDTalk by Brand lays out his new vision.  Where we go from here is anyone’s guess.

Quantum tech is more than just crazy science: It’s good business from mobile payments to fighting the NSA,

Management students may ask why the title of this post claims that quantum technology is good business. So let me try to explain, and then read on to the PandoDaily post by David Holmes. The bottom line is that some basic understanding of quantum mechanics is going to be a valuable management skill going forward. Why? Read on

Yesterday, National Public Radio in the United States (which can be heard online) broadcast a fascinating discussion about Monday’s announcement of the long awaited breakthrough of proving the existence of gravitational waves which include the fingerprint of the original Big Bang.  Featuring legendary astrophysicist Leonard Susskind of Stanford and a number of other leading physicists, the discussion inevitably drifted to quantum mechanics, and the original Big Bang itself, which Stanford Physics Professor. Chao-Lin Kuo, described as “mind scrambling.”  Quantum entanglement is another area that defies common sense: particles that mimic each other and change faster than the speed of light, which should be impossible.  Einstein’s famous quote, “God does not play dice,” was his reaction to the non-deterministic nature of quantum events and theory, which also violate his general theory of relativity. It turns out the random nature of quantum mechanics provides a superior solution for hideously complex problems, finding the best “probabilistic” solutions. Quantum mechanics is also providing a potential way forward in encryption and privacy.

Read and listen on NPR: Scientists Announce Big Bang Breakthrough

However, all of this “mind scrambling” pure science is rapidly becoming applied science: science becoming useful technological innovation and applied to economic activity.  Some of my students may recall our discussions of Moore’s Law in semiconductor design. As  Moore’s Law reaches it finite limit, quantum “technology” is creating one path forward, and providing new solutions to Internet security and supercomputing.  David Holme’s PandoDaily article today attempts to explain in greater detail why this is important for business. 

Vern Brownell, CEO of D-Wave Systems has written an excellent explanation in layman’s terms, of the importance of quantum computing, and how it differs from “deterministic” computing.

Read more:  Solving the unsolvable: a quantum boost for supercomputing

Best of all there is an excellent book for those willing to devote the time and grey matter to quantum physics, “Quantum physics, a beginners’ guide,” by Alistair Rae, available in paperback on Amazon or Kindle e-book.

Google’s Schmidt blasts NSA over fiber-optic snooping: Damage Could Be Massive for U.S. Companies

U.S. National Security Agency global surveillance of virtually all Internet traffic has been devastating for Google’s international business. At the exact time when Google has launched a strategic initiative to expand as an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in foreign countries, the NSA revelations have torpedoed its efforts.

Google sees its future growth being dependent on emerging new markets that either do not have Internet connectivity or it is very limited.  Google has been experimenting with low orbiting satellites and stratospheric balloons as a means to expand Internet coverage to the most remote corners of the globe.  Last March, Schmidt visited India to meet with government officials and to discuss his vision for the Internet. At the same time, Schmidt also wrote an editorial in The Times of India arguing for a Google future in India. The response of the Indian government was to ban Gmail use in all government agencies. ICANN, the organization that manages the Internet globally, is based in the United States. ICANN has also realized the huge damage to its credibility, and is scrambling to distance itself from any relationship with the U.S. government.  I would expect that as the International Telecommunication Union, a sister global organization, is based in Geneva, Switzerland, ICANN may be expected to relocate to Switzerland.

The potential damage of the NSA revelations of snooping on foreign leaders, breaking encryption and pinpointing cellular users locations, is incalculable.  It’s implications extend far beyond Google, to Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn and virtually any other big social media site you can name. The cost to the U.S. economy, it’s reputation, and to the standing

Devastating Damage To U.S. Global Internet Leadership

by Barb Darrow

SUMMARY:Google’s chairman says the NSA’s tapping of its and Yahoo’s fiber-optic cable data traffic probably violates the law.

Google, a company that’s taken some lumps itself for treading heavily on users’ privacy, is not at all amused by reports that the National Security Agency  tapped fiber-optic cables running between its data centers. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt registered that disapproval to CNN and other news outlets early Monday.

“I was shocked that the NSA would do this — perhaps a violation of law but certainly a violation of mission … This is clearly an overstep,” Schmidt told CNN.

Schmidt was responding to recent revelations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the NSA was not only harvesting some customer data from big U.S. internet companies with their knowledge but also collecting data flowing in the fiber optic cables between them unbeknownst to them. Those allegations that the NSA tapped both Google and Yahoo cable links were first reported in the Washington Post, which cited Snowden-supplied documents. The documents said the NSA collected hundreds of millions of records over a month and held it for 3 to 5 days while deciding what to keep.

The NSA told the Post in a statement that it focuses on “discovering developing intelligence about valid foreign intelligence targets only.”

Whatever, Schmidt is not happy.  He told CNN: ”From a Google perspective, any internal use of Google services is unauthorized and almost certainly illegal.”

Gigaom

Google, a company that’s taken some lumps itself for treading heavily on users’ privacy, is not at all amused by reports that the National Security Agency  tapped fiber-optic cables running between its data centers. Google(s goog) Chairman Eric Schmidt registered that disapproval to CNN and other news outlets early Monday.

“I was shocked that the NSA would do this — perhaps a violation of law but certainly a violation of mission … This is clearly an overstep,” Schmidt told CNN.

Schmidt was responding to recent revelations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the NSA was not only harvesting some customer data from big U.S. internet companies with their knowledge but also collecting data flowing in the fiber optic cables between them unbeknownst to them. Those allegations that the NSA tapped both Google and Yahoo cable links were first reported in the Washington Post, which cited Snowden-supplied documents…

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God Speed Edward Snowden: An Ethical Dilemma of Global Proportions

I have written a number of posts on this blog about Big Data.. Big Data is in and of itself is benign. It has enormous potential to enrich our lives.  Evidence the excellent new book, Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think, by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier. But Big Data has a dark side as well.  We should have known that the World’s largest spy and intelligence gathering organizations have the massive resources at their disposal to exploit Big Data on a scale not yet achieved in our open world, mimicking Aldous Huxley’s warnings to us, or the film Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise

My third year UBC Management students may recall our classroom discussions on ethics, and the painful reality that there are no clear and easy answers in ethical situations, even when you want to “do the right thing.”  We are all now hearing and reading about Edward Snowden, who is now at the center of a global political firestorm, caused by Snowden’s decision to reveal the NSA‘s PRISM surveillance program,  and its extraordinary encroachment of personal privacy.  Snowden’s revelations have now also entangled the UK’s GCHQ, the secret intelligence gathering arm of MI6 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and Canada’s Secret Intelligence Service (CSIS), which have also been sharing similar snooping with the NSA.  A former U.S. National Security Administration contractor, Snowden was actually employed by Booz Allen Hamilton, a global management consultancy firm.  Snowden’s situation should give us all pause to consider the Brave New World we have entered with zettabytes (1 Million Terabytes) of Big Data, and the uses of it.

So the question needs to be raised.  You are a young new management graduate, hired by one of the major international management consultancy firms, and you are surprised to find yourself posted to the Canadian Secret Intelligence Service (CSIS), or the NSA, or MI6 in the UK... You have been taught in university to recognize ethical problems and you become intimately aware of programs and activities that do not feel right to you.  Something in your gut says that it is wrong, a violation of our basic democratic freedoms.  But of course there are no easy answers. These programs are providing intelligence that may be preventing terrorist attacks.  The consequences for you personally, should you choose to reveal what you know, are potentially catastrophic.  What would you do?

Whatever side you may take on this issue, I think it is important to appreciate that Edward Snowden has made his extraordinarily difficult decision. It may well cost him for the rest of his life.  Would you be prepared to take that kind of stand? If not on an issue like this, on what kind of issue, or any issue?

Even in my home town of San Francisco, there is controversy.  U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, from San Francisco, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has spoken out fervently that the NSA Prism intelligence gathering program is entirely “within the law.” Senator Feinstein has also joined the voices calling for Snowden’s indictment on espionage charges.  In contrast, U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, also of San Francisco, has spoken up in defense of Mr. Snowden.

Bradley Manning and Julian Assange

The Snowden affair has put the Bradley Manning and Julian Assange Wikileaks matter into a much clearer perspective. Something much bigger is going on here. With multiple nations rising to support and protect Mr. Snowden, it makes it much harder for the United States to argue that they have the high moral ground.

A key issue we all need to follow is how the lightning fast advances in technology are eclipsing the “law.”  I worry that Senator Feinstein, for all of her skill and knowledge, has not grasped the significance of Big Data as it applies to personal privacy under the Constitution of the United States.

My personal cut is that Mr. Snowden has done the free world a great service, at a tremendous cost to himself.  It is also interesting to see the enormous support he has engendered around the World, in a matter of days.  The U.S. government is looking terrible on the World Stage, as it attempts to apprehend Mr. Snowden. Only a very brave few in the United States have even attempted to defend Snowden. The Libertarian Rand Paul began a defense of Snowden and later backed off.  House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has also bravely spoken out in support of Snowden to a chorus of disapproval..

This is the the core stuff of ethical dilemmas.  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  Remember this in your own small way in your careers. John F. Kennedy wrote a now legendary book, Profiles in Courage, which we should all take out and read again.

Whether you agree or disagree with Edward Snowden’s actions, he has shown himself to be a person of character and determination. Think of him like Braveheart’s William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson.

God speed, Edward Snowden.