Business | Technology
Losing control of the internet
How's this for stating the obvious: the internet had some problems last week.
- By Scott Shuey, Chief Business Reporter
- Published: 23:58 August 15, 2008
How's this for stating the obvious: the internet had some problems last week. To some degree, it's more of the same: hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in systems and pirates downloading illegal - or at least exclusive - content. Last week, though, it was all that times 10.
To kick off the week, there was the Olympics. The problem wasn't caused by the blocking of websites in China, but by an American TV network trying to control when people saw the opening ceremony.
NBC, which has exclusive broadcasting rights for the Games in the US, sought to delay televising the ceremony by 12 hours, so it could be viewed by a larger audience. It also delayed the webcast.
Problem was, NBC forgot about the rest of the world, which posted videos and other pictures of the ceremony on YouTube and other social networks. NBC then engaged in what one journalist dubbed a game of "whack-a-mole". A website would pop up with Olympic coverage. NBC's lawyers would step in to have the content removed. Two more websites pop up with similar content somewhere else. Repeat for 12 hours.
American audiences weren't choosy, either. They viewed the content wherever they could find it. That may sound humourous - and it is - but it just goes to show that many companies don't quite understand the impact of a global network. Holding off exclusive coverage in the internet age so you can drive up TV ratings just doesn't work anymore.
After the Olympics there were a few more problems.
Bigger than anticipated
Dan Kaminsky, the security researcher who discovered the DNS cache-poisoning flaw last gave a talk at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. He said the threat is now bigger than anticipated. For those who missed the original story, the flaw allows hackers to redirect traffic on the internet. For example, you type in www.google.com but arrive at www.piratebay.com.
For a better understanding of the issues, check out Kaminsky's blog at www.doxpara.com. Now despite massive patching by network companies, Kaminsky says the problem is still out there.
Not everybody agrees that this is as big an issue as Kaminsky says it is. Verisign for one said their SSL certificates take care of this. I'm sure they do. Now, everyone raise their hand if you know that every websites you visit has an SSL certificate. Raise your hand if you even know what SSL means.
(Answer: it means secure socket layer and it's a way of making sure you're at the website you meant to go to.)
The most disturbing news last week doesn't come from a company but from a war zone. The conflict in Georgia has involved a high level of cyberware with each side trying to disable the other side's ability to access the internet. Denial of Service attacks, as they are called, aren't new, and it's not the first time that Russia has been implicated in them - Russian hackers were blamed for a similar attack on Estonia in 2007.
These are the problems: companies are confused and the whole system is easily manipulated by both government and criminals. Eight years ago the dot-com crash happened because many people didn't know what to do with the new technology. Now the system's falling apart because we're losing control of it.
The dot-com crash happened because many people didn't know what to do with the new technology. Now the system's falling apart because we're losing control of it.
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