Anyone buying into the net neutrality notion that “a bit is a bit is a bit” should check out this New York Times article on the dangers of international cyberattacks:

Attacks on the Internet itself, say, through what are known as root-name servers, which play a role in connecting Internet users with Web sites, could cause widespread problems, said Paul Kurtz, the chief operating officer of Safe Harbor, a security consultancy. And having so many nations with a finger on the digital button, of course, raises the prospect of a cyberconflict caused by a misidentified attacker or a simple glitch.

Still not convinced? Read on:

Still, many in the security community and the news media initially treated the digital attacks against Estonia’s computer networks as the coming of a long-anticipated new chapter in the history of conflict — when, in fact, the technologies and techniques used in the attacks were hardly new, nor were they the kind of thing that only a powerful government would have in its digital armamentarium.

This much is clear: Global security risks are rising in tandem with the broadband web. That in turn points to the necessity of deploying networks capable to recognizing threatening data in the form of viruses, Trojan Horses or whatever malware tomorrow’s hackers invent.

Someone once said that a libertarian is a conservative who’s just been arrested. Probably true. But in that same spirit, it will be interesting to hear how the net neutrality crowd describes one of its favorite bogeyman, deep-packet inspection, the next time it helps stop a major denial-of-service attack.

This month’s zombie attack on Estonia’s economy was only the latest example of the growing dangers on the Net. It will assuredly not be the last.