Re: [tlug] What would happen to the Internet if the US fell off the map [OT]

[Dave M G <dave@example.com>]

TLUG,

This is the message I tried to send before. I sent it from the wrong 
address, which is probably why is got blocked as spam.



I hope this off-topic question will be of interest to the group, as I 
feel that you guys have the right kind of expertise to answer it.

The other day a friend asked me a question that I couldn't answer, and I 
couldn't find a satisfactory answer by looking around on the Internet.

The question posed was, "If the United States was completely wiped out 
somehow, would the Internet continue to function, and if so, what 
problems would there be?"

Since one of the primary goals of the Internet at the outset was to 
distribute data and communication precisely to survive a large scale 
attack, I would imagine that the internet in Europe and Asia and 
elsewhere should be able to continue on. An email should make it from 
Tokyo to London without having to go through New York.

But, on the other hand, so much traffic flows through the US right now 
because there is still so much infrastructure there, it's hard to 
imagine there is no potential for a debilitating breakdown.

Also, I thought I read once that on some fundamental level, the top 
level domain designation ultimately ended up with ICANN (...?), which is 
a US organization( ...?). Details are sketchy. But I remember reading an 
article in Wired or somewhere that a move to privatize, and 
decentralize, some aspect of the top level domain system was blocked by 
the US Department Of Defense because it was deemed strategically 
critical to maintain control over some aspect. Unfortunately I couldn't 
find the article right now, so if my memory is way off the mark, please 
correct me.

I guess this question fascinates me because it seems to me to have 
implications for other, more plausible, issues. Such as the issue of 
whether or not the US decided to with the the much-reviled tiered system 
of giving more bandwidth to organizations that paid more for it. In such 
a case, would the rest of the world be forced to operate on those terms? 
How much does US management of the Internet affect international access 
and decision making?

Can anyone help me answer my friend's question? Imagine that every 
computer, every hub, every piece of hardware related to technology in 
the US was suddenly gone. What would happen to the rest of us?

--
Dave M G
Ubuntu Feisty 7.04
Kernel 2.6.20-16-386