[Marxism] IRISH TIMES: Broken cable kills web for millions

[Walter Lippmann]

SIMON McGUINNESS points out:
Much of the Middle East, India and southern Asia have temporarily
joined Cuba in having only satellite access to the internet. The
Egyptian government has pleaded with individual surfers to give up
their activities to allow for the proper functioning of commerce and
public administration. Is this evidence that when access to the web
is via heavily restricted to satellite only connections, governments
are correct to restrict individual access to the net and prioritise
commerce and public administration? Cuba watchers should keep an eye
out for the measures that will be taken elsewhere across the world to
cope with the catastrophic reduction in internet access that, for
Cuba, constitutes "normal service". Will we see the US State
Department issuing strongly worded condemnations of India, Egypt,
etc., for denying individuals access to the internet? Will Human
Rights Watch accuse those governments of oppression and denial of the
right to freedom of expression? I don't think so. More evidence of
double standards? The fact that Cuba's access to the web is
restricted precisely by the aggressive policies of the government
issuing the condemnation only adds hypocrisy to insult. - SMcG.
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Broken cable kills web for millions 
Bobbie Johnson

Friday, February 01, 2008: The Irish Times
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2008/0201/1201501881705.html

MIDDLE EAST/INDIA: A flotilla of ships may have been dispatched to
reinstate the broken submarine cable that has left the Middle East
and India struggling to communicate with the rest of the world, but
it took just one vessel to inflict the damage that brought down the
internet for millions.

According to reports, the internet blackout, which has left 75
million people with only limited web access, was caused by a ship
that tried to moor off the coast of Egypt in bad weather on
Wednesday. Since then, phone and internet traffic has been severely
reduced across the region, slashed by as much as 70 per cent in
countries such as India, Egypt and Dubai.

While tens of millions have been directly affected, the impact of the
blackout has spread far wider, with economies across Asia and the
Middle East struggling to cope. Governments have also become directly
involved, with the Egyptian communications ministry imploring surfers
to stay offline so business traffic can take priority.

But as backroom staff at businesses across the globe scrambled to
reroute their traffic or switch on backup satellite systems, experts
said the incident highlighted the fragility of a global
communications network we take for granted.

"People just don't realise that all these things go through undersea
cables - that this is the main way these economies are all linked,"
said Alan Mauldin, research director of TeleGeography. "Even when
you're using wireless internet . . . is done over real, physical
connections."

Fibre-optic cables are laid at great cost in huge lines around the
globe, directing traffic backwards and forwards across continents.
One expert said this accident should be a "wake-up call" to convince
governments that keeping such connections secure should be a higher
priority.

"Officials must spend more time and energy making sure that critical
communications such as mobile phones and the net are adequately
protected - whether from disaster or a terrorist strike," said
Mustafa Alani, head of security and terrorism at the Gulf Research
Centre in Dubai.

"This shows how easy it would be to attack," he said. "When it comes
to great technology, it's not about building it - it's how to protect
it."

Although the direct effect of the Mediterranean accident is being
felt as far east as Bangladesh, the greatest impact has been in
India, which has the world's fifth-largest internet population and an
economy that is increasingly reliant on hi-tech communications.

The fibre-optic wires in question - called Flag Europe-Asia and
Sea-Me-We 4 - are some of the most vital information pipelines
between Europe and the east. The latter, which runs in an
uninterrupted line from western Europe to Singapore, had only
recently been opened after a mammoth £500 million (€669 million),
three-year installation project.

Between them, the two lines are responsible for about 75 per cent of
all connections in the Middle East and south Asia.

"It will depend on how bad the damage is, but they'll find the
sections in question and bring them up onto a ship for repair before
sinking them again," said Mr Mauldin. "It could take a week or
possibly two."

© 2008 The Irish Times