The emergence of large cloud providers in the last decade has transformed the Internet, resulting in a seemingly ever-growing set of datacenters, points of presence, and network peers. Despite the availability of closer peering locations, some networks continue to peer with cloud providers at distant locations, traveling thousands of kilometers. In this paper, we employ a novel cloud-based traceroute campaign to characterize the distances networks travel to peer with the cloud. This unique approach allows us to gain unprecedented insights into the peering patterns of networks. Our findings reveal that 50% of the networks peer within 300 kilometers of the nearest datacenter. However, our analysis also reveals that over 20% of networks travel at least 6,700 kilometers beyond the proximity of the nearest computing facility, and some as much as 18,791 kilometers! While these networks connect with the cloud worldwide, from South America to Europe and Asia, many come to peer with cloud providers in North America, even from Oceania and Asia. We explore possible motivations for the persistence of distant peering, discussing factors such as cost-effective routes, enhanced peering opportunities, and access to exclusive content.

As research into the dynamics and properties of opinion diffusion on social networks has increased, so too has the attention paid to modeling such systems. Simulations using agent-based modeling (ABM) analyze aggregate network outcomes when individual agents act on typically limited information, and tend to focus on agents that are conforming and homophilic - that is, they prefer to be around similar others, and they update their own personal state over time to be more like their friends. In this work, we illustrate the value of diverse agent modeling in environments that allow for strategic unfriending. We focus on network dynamics generated by three agent models, or archetypes. Our work shows that polarization and consensus dynamics, as well as topological clustering effects, may rely more than previously known on the interplay between individuals' goals for the composition of their neighborhood's opinions.