Having already cost US companies money by making people leery of putting their data on sites based in the US, as Badtux notes Alexander the Geek has destroyed the credibility of US hardware suppliers. No one builds a massive castle wall and surrounds it with a moat, and then installs a footbridge to a garden gate through the wall in the back, hoping no one notices.

If you install a backdoor, it will be found and it will be exploited, and not just by the people who ordered it built. It has probably already been exploited by the pros, and the script-kiddies will be along eventually. Does NSA realize that their system has the same vulnerability?

I mentioned the motto of the Australian DSD: “Reveal their secrets … Protect our own”. NSA has failed in the second part, and seems to include everyone in ‘their’.

The Internet will adapt to these realities, but it is very likely that the US won’t have a place at the table where the changes are agreed to. Very few international meetings are held in the US these days because of the extremely restrictive visa policies that have been adopted. When the technical committees meet in the foreign locations, it is fair to assume that new standards will be approved for services that will negate much of what NSA has done. I expect that more than a few people will want to discuss how to route around the US.

Position: 13.9N 25.9W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [285°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 70 mph [110 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↓.

Currently about 120 miles [ 190 km] West-Southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

The warnings for the Cape Verde Islands has been discontinued.

Humberto is on track to become the first hurricane of the season.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]