What “Un-American Internet” Means to the U.S.

Remember when the Internet was a “series of tubes”? Now it’s an entity made up of hubs and spokes – so many in fact that traffic these days mostly is routed through Asian countries.

The United States used to be the predominant traffic router because it boasted the carriers and Internet exchanges. That’s changing as emerging countries build their own infrastructure and route Internet traffic more efficiently.

And rather than viewing this shift as “un-American” or as a loss to the United States, analysts say it’s a natural progression.

“...it didn't make much sense for a user in Africa to send an e-mail to someone in France that actually traveled across the Atlantic to the U.S. and then back across the ocean again,” said Alan Mauldin, research director for TeleGeography, which recently released the report, “The Internet is Becoming Un-American.”

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