The article explores how the United States has strategically built and maintained its technological sovereignty through key innovations, policies, and infrastructure developments, examining the historical and modern efforts to secure independence in critical technology sectors.
Background
- For most of history, "sovereignty" meant a ruler's absolute power over a territory. The Internet and global finance challenged that, creating a "cyberspace" that seemed to flow across borders without permission.
- This article argues the U.S. reasserted control not through conquest, but by engineering technical and legal systems (e.g., control of DNS root servers, SWIFT financial messaging, and surveillance via the Five Eyes alliance) that made its sovereignty structural.
- Key prior context: the "Snowden revelations" (2013) showed the U.S. was monitoring global communications, causing other nations to realize American tech platforms were potential vectors of U.S. law enforcement.
- Why it matters: This reframes debates about "Big Tech" regulation, data localization laws (e.g., GDPR, China's Great Firewall), and the current push for a "multistakeholder" vs. "multilateral" Internet governance model.
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