Suitably Flip

Who Broke the Internet?

Is it just me - or is a big chunk of the internet suddenly hobbled?  It seemed to start about an hour ago.  Google doesn't work (nor does GMail nor Google Finance nor Google Reader).

Wikipedia and Drudge seem to be working fine, so it's not just my internet connection.  My Blackberry e-mail has fritzed out too, which was the first symptom I noticed.

Yahoo works, as does Yahoo Finance, but not Yahoo Mail.  Hot Air works, but it's slow and it's not loading correctly.  Ameritrade also works, so if you want to dump some e-commerce stocks after hours, go nuts.  Amazon and eBay are both still with us.  Google-owned YouTube is responding and "transferring data", but the site isn't loading.  Facebook seems to be working normally.  Ditto for IMDb.

This blog is also not working (though happily Typepad is), so I can post, but you can't read.  If you're reading this, the problem has presumably been solved.

What gives?

Update:  Scratch that.  This blog is apparently working after all.  So if you are reading this, let us know if you're encountering similar outages.

Update:  I see from Sitemeter (which works) that Hot Air has linked here with a similar post.  Unfortunately, I can't read it, but I gather they're noticing similar irregularities.

Update:  Blackberry email is working again - might've been unrelated, but it was a first.  I had three bars, but outgoing messages resulted in the menacing X, meaning transmission failed.

Update:  I managed to get the Hot Air post to load.  Allah (who's also in NYC) wonders if it's a New York-centric problem.  And from the comments below, Sonny informs us he's not having these problems in California.

Anyway, as we apply the duct tape to the windows and prepare to spend the evening clutching shotguns in our rocking chairs, we may as well set about the speculation.  Terrorists, hacker fire sale, the Goracle proving he can both giveth and taketh away, or Skynet becoming self-aware?

Update:  Hot Air commenters have checked in from Kansas, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, reporting interweb normalcy.  Situation here is unchanged.  The outage is now about two hours old.

Update:  Allah also wonders if it's an RCN problem.  He and I are both suffering RCN subscribers and it wouldn't completely floor me to learn they're near the root of the problem.  Still, the fact that I can access many of the working sites with no slowdown (and the non-working sites not at all) seems to suggest it's not an ISP issue.

Any NYC readers out there not using RCN who are able to access the problematic sites?

Update:  From the comments, we've got a New Yorker not far away experiencing no issues.  Situation here unchanged.

Update:  9:30 pm: everything suddenly all better.

Interestingly, another commenter from Chicago who also suffers from RCN subscribership was having the same problems.

Update:  From the comments, B Mitchell forwards a status update from RCN.  A "fiber cut" in DC, "effecting (sic) backbone traffic. You may experience a lack of ability to reach some internet sites. All DC metro customers are expriencing a loss of long distance service and loss of internet services."

Very weird.

Comments

Who Broke the Internet?

Is it just me - or is a big chunk of the internet suddenly hobbled?  It seemed to start about an hour ago.  Google doesn't work (nor does GMail nor Google Finance nor Google Reader).

Wikipedia and Drudge seem to be working fine, so it's not just my internet connection.  My Blackberry e-mail has fritzed out too, which was the first symptom I noticed.

Yahoo works, as does Yahoo Finance, but not Yahoo Mail.  Hot Air works, but it's slow and it's not loading correctly.  Ameritrade also works, so if you want to dump some e-commerce stocks after hours, go nuts.  Amazon and eBay are both still with us.  Google-owned YouTube is responding and "transferring data", but the site isn't loading.  Facebook seems to be working normally.  Ditto for IMDb.

This blog is also not working (though happily Typepad is), so I can post, but you can't read.  If you're reading this, the problem has presumably been solved.

What gives?

Update:  Scratch that.  This blog is apparently working after all.  So if you are reading this, let us know if you're encountering similar outages.

Update:  I see from Sitemeter (which works) that Hot Air has linked here with a similar post.  Unfortunately, I can't read it, but I gather they're noticing similar irregularities.

Update:  Blackberry email is working again - might've been unrelated, but it was a first.  I had three bars, but outgoing messages resulted in the menacing X, meaning transmission failed.

Update:  I managed to get the Hot Air post to load.  Allah (who's also in NYC) wonders if it's a New York-centric problem.  And from the comments below, Sonny informs us he's not having these problems in California.

Anyway, as we apply the duct tape to the windows and prepare to spend the evening clutching shotguns in our rocking chairs, we may as well set about the speculation.  Terrorists, hacker fire sale, the Goracle proving he can both giveth and taketh away, or Skynet becoming self-aware?

Update:  Hot Air commenters have checked in from Kansas, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, reporting interweb normalcy.  Situation here is unchanged.  The outage is now about two hours old.

Update:  Allah also wonders if it's an RCN problem.  He and I are both suffering RCN subscribers and it wouldn't completely floor me to learn they're near the root of the problem.  Still, the fact that I can access many of the working sites with no slowdown (and the non-working sites not at all) seems to suggest it's not an ISP issue.

Any NYC readers out there not using RCN who are able to access the problematic sites?

Update:  From the comments, we've got a New Yorker not far away experiencing no issues.  Situation here unchanged.

Update:  9:30 pm: everything suddenly all better.

Interestingly, another commenter from Chicago who also suffers from RCN subscribership was having the same problems.

Update:  From the comments, B Mitchell forwards a status update from RCN.  A "fiber cut" in DC, "effecting (sic) backbone traffic. You may experience a lack of ability to reach some internet sites. All DC metro customers are expriencing a loss of long distance service and loss of internet services."

Very weird.