Bad route: A small routing error led to Internet outages in the Northeastern United States on June 24, Inc.com reports. Small network services provider DQE Communications shared inaccurate routing information with Verizon, which then passed it along to the wider network. Internet services were flaky for about two hours, with Verizon Fios phone and Internet services in Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other states affected, the Washington Post said. Server issues also affected Reddit, Twitch, and video gaming service Discord.
Attacking encryption? U.S. President Donald Trump’s National
Security Council recently discussed ways to prohibit companies from offering
customers unbreakable encryption, Politico
reports. Officials debated whether to ask Congress to effectively outlaw
end-to-end encryption, according to anonymous sources.
Embrace the dark side: Government entities looking to improve Internet speeds in their areas should consider dark fiber when it’s available, advises AmericanCityandCounty.com. Switching to dark fiber can offer both performance improvement and cost savings, but the transition can demand a major overhaul.
Service restored, for one guy: Sudan’s three-week
Internet shutdown keeps going, except for one lawyer, who won a lawsuit against
telecom operator Zain Sudan over the blackout ordered by the country’s military
rulers, the BBC says.
Lawyer Abdel-Adheem Hassan said he was the only civilian in the country able to
access the Internet “without resorting to complicated hacks.”
Sanctioning the Internet: U.S. sanctions on Cuba are
discouraging telecom providers to invest there, even though the U.S. government
wants to expand Internet access in the country, Voice
of America reports. The U.S. State Department’s Cuba Internet Task Force
also noted that Chinese companies dominate the Cuban telecom sector.
Deep fakes worse than fake news? Facebook is considering new ways to deal with so-called deep-fake videos, ones doctored with the help of Artificial Intelligence, in an effort to make it easier for the site to take them down, Business Insider says. The social network may end up treating deep fakes more harshly than fake news or misinformation.
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The post The Week in Internet News: Small Routing Error Has Big Consequences appeared first on Internet Society.