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The IXmap, currently in beta, shows how this internet traffic moves around the world. IXmaps, which is short for internet exchange, was designed to show the route of internet traffic and has a specific focus on highlighting government surveillance.
Based on Google Maps, the cartography also uses multiple layers to show the National Security Agency's (NSA) traffic interception locations and those suspected of belonging to the spy agency. In 2013, documents from Edward Snowden revealed the NSA has a global network of 80 listening posts, where internet traffic is alleged to be intercepted.
Nineteen of these listening posts were said to be in Europe and include major cities such as Berlin, Rome and Madrid. At the time it was also said the NSA had allegedly spied on the communications of German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The IXmap is mostly based on US and Canadian data, yet it details the locations of all of the alleged, international listening posts. This layer can be turned on and off in the map by clicking the accessibility layer on the right-hand side.
The map's creation and data is funded by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, the country's research council and Canada's Privacy Commissioner. The researchers working on the map and related research are from the University of Toronto.
Elsewhere on the map, there are views for AT&T and Verizon sites that are suspected of conducting surveillance on internet traffic, these show potential sites around the world. Other layers include public internet exchange points in Canada, internet performance servers in Canada, and undersea internet cable landing points in the US and Canada. These points are where cables stretch beneath oceans and make up the internet's complex infrastructure. The IXmap additionally shows all of Google's data centres that are spread around the world.
You can use the map can to trace where your internet traffic is travelling. It is possible to enter a USP, city or country, and then click on the search icon. As the map is an ongoing research project, it isn't possible to see all routes of internet traffic but those with knowledge of the area can add their own into the database.
"We map these traceroutes as lines (hops) joining successive dots (routers), based on our estimate of the physical location of these routers," said the researchers.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
