Evolution of Cyberspace, What Does This Mean for National Security?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/business/30pipes.html?th&emc=th
I found this article from The New York Times to be interesting because it highlights some of the issues stemming from the global evolution of the internet in the 21st century, especially those pertaining to the undeterminable affects this has on national security. The article notes that the U. S. intelligence community has not placed a heavy emphasis on acquiring more knowledge about the effects that the internet could possibly have on national security mainly because it hasn’t really had to. Since 1998, the United States has carried “70 percent of the world’s Internet traffic”; however, a recent estimate shows the U.S. currently carrying only around “25 percent”.

Now that this revolutionary invention has spread rapidly all over the world, and continues to do so, it seems that the intelligence community will have no other option than to gather more information pertaining to the relationship of the net and national security. More exclusively, what role will the use of the internet play in terrorism? John Arquilla, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, claims that “We’ve given terrorists a free ride in cyberspace.” If so, what actions will the government take to eliminate this “free ride”, if any?