Wampum

When I flew to Bejing I had to send my passport to Washington to have a visa affixed, it was more hoops to jump through than I'd had to to go to anywhere in Europe.

When the UK took the position that laptops going to an IETF held in London were subject to seizure if encrypted data was detected, and that the UK had the right to inspect laptops going to an IETF held in London for encrypted data, there was real resistance to scheduling another IETF in the UK. Since IETF-51, August 5-10, 2001; London, no IETF has been held again in the UK jurisdiction. And none is planned.

Yesterday the penny dropped for the North American Network Operators, the people who actually get data from points A to points B through Z.

Very little here that we don't already know:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061122/ap_on_go_ot/passports_air_travel

*except* for the bit in the third from last paragraph about the startlingly large percentages (between 25 and 42%) of Americans traveling to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean who don't have passports. While the article doesn't come right out and say it, I won't be surprised if there's a big backlog at the passport office due to people suddenly realizing they need something they've never had to have before.

Toronto NANOG is only about 70 days away. If you're planning on going and don't yet have a passport, getting your paperwork in ASAP would be a Good Plan.

Because NANOG is the first, and still the primary venue for network operators, it has a lot of attendence from the European and Asian network operator communities. As absurd as it is for US nationals to be getting US passports to exit and return the US on a day-trip or a week-trip on the north shore of Lake Onterio, for the better part of a hundred dollars and hassel, getting in and out of the United Snakes is wicked harder for network operators from Asia, Africa, South America and Europe.