Imagine your daily online activities: checking emails, browsing news, or streaming a Canadian hockey game. Have you ever wondered where your data travels once it leaves your device?
It may surprise you to learn that Internet traffic routing in Canada often crosses the US border. Understanding this journey is crucial for Canadians concerned about data sovereignty and privacy.
Internet traffic routing determines how your data travels from a computer to a server and vice versa. Think of it as the GPS auto-mapping for data, guiding it through the best routes before arriving at the destination.
Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) are crucial in managing internet traffic within Canada. These are physical sites where internet service providers (ISPs) exchange data. Canada’s major IXPs can be found in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. However, the proximity of the Canadian population to the US border often results in data taking routes through American networks.
For instance, when someone in Manitoba submits information to a website hosted in Montreal, their data may cross the US border. On the other hand, accessing a server hosted in Asia, the EU, or other distant locations typically follows more direct routes through transpacific or transatlantic cables, reducing the likelihood of US detours.
Canada’s geographic vastness adds complexity to data routing. While a direct trajectory from Vancouver to Ottawa seems sensible, the most efficient path may involve a quick detour through Seattle, Chicago and/or New York City, due to infrastructure considerations.
This routing affects not only speed but also raises privacy concerns.
Data privacy becomes an issue when Canadian traffic passes through US networks, as these are subject to different laws. For example, once Canadian data enters the US, it is vulnerable to different levels of oversight and potential interception, which can raise privacy challenges for Canadians.
The US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows US government agencies like the NSA to collect, use, or disseminate online communications that enter US networks. This provision applies to data in transit or stored by US-based ISPs, including data originating from Canada. As a result, the simplicity of sending a message across Canada can lead to unforeseen privacy implications.
Data sovereignty refers to the idea that data is subject to the laws of the country where it is collected and processed. This concept is crucial for nations like Canada, where data privacy laws differ significantly from those of the United States.
To strengthen data sovereignty, Canadians can consider hosting solutions outside of the North American jurisdiction. Hosting data in the European Union (EU) presents a viable option. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) offers robust data protection, requiring explicit consent for data use and granting users significant control over their information.
Hosting in the EU has a slight challenge, however, such as increased latency for Canadian users due to the greater distance. For example, Tresseo has web hosting servers in New York City and in the EU. We found that the EU servers had a network latency increase of 80 milliseconds over the New York servers for traffic originating in Ottawa. However, the privacy benefits often outweigh these minor delays.
Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN), these latency issues are mitigated, ensuring faster data retrieval while maintaining privacy standards.
Canadian internet traffic takes fascinating paths across borders, influenced by geographic challenges and infrastructure realities. While much of our data currently flows through the US, there are feasible alternatives to enhance privacy and data sovereignty, such as hosting in the EU.
As Canadians, staying informed about these issues allows us to make decisions aligned with our values, prioritizing both speed and protection.
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