Shutting down the internets

[raino]

Also, an unrelated thing, just in case someone might know: are there servers vital to the functioning to internet that solely reside in the USA? Or is everything distributed globally? I thought some naming/isp servers were only in the US, but now that I researched, it seems this hasn't been the case since 90's.
I'm not planning to ruin the internet, trust me, I just need this for a story I'm writing. I need the internet to crash in it, which could maybe happen if USA seceded from the rest of the world and cut all electronic contact, and all computer technology from US self-destructed, but I'm not sure if it's theoretically possible to shut down the internet anymore.

Comments

[raino]

Wow, thanks! So it seems that even if all but two of the 13 root servers are in name US entities, they are cloned worldwide and are thereby in practice un-disruptible. Which is good news for reality but bad news for my story :D
I suppose cutting US out of the internet would make the rest pretty congested, but slower and slightly more unreliable connections are not aesthetically as pleasing as a huge boom-bang-crush.
(Interestingly, I did not run into a paywall for the NYTimes blog. It's free for non-US readers?)

[jesse_the_k]

The NYTimes has been much more lenient lately about its paywall -- I haven't received a "0 articles left" message in several month. It's probably gremlins, but a little bit of me hopes its a contribution to "truth in news."