Say goodbye to US Internet dominance.

The US has had a tremendous advantage in Internet infrastructure business. The technical skills and capital investments made by Americans resulted in business opportunities that made us the envy of the world. It gave us a natural, near monopolistic advantage. Nearly all internet traffic that moves around the world moves through the US.

But the Internet, by design, requires no centralized structure, leaving that business vulnerable. As long as we run hard, as long as we do the job better than somebody else, we can maintain that edge. Fail to do so, become complacent, or just plain stupid, and the advantage evaporates. It's happening now. Business, worldwide, is consciously moving to bypass the Internet backbone readily available in the US. We lose not only today's business, but the technological superiority for tomorrow's business. We've shot ourselves in the foot.

How? American intelligence agencies found all that data irresistible. Sometimes legally via the Patriot Act, and sometimes not. Most notably, that puts us in conflict with both Canadian and European privacy laws. The information advantage those intelligence agencies gain is temporary. The business we lose as other nations seek to bypass the US is nearly permanent. We've sold a birthright for a bowl of pottage. More in the NYT, here.

Now ask yourself this: Who's responsible for the problem? Who will fix it?