Internet dies if GPS dies?

[Major Variola (ret)]

[If GPS dies] "Internet activity would slow to a crawl, because many
  backbone operators rely on precise GPS time stamps to route data. "
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.05/start.html?pg=6

Sounds like bullshit to me, data clocks should be able to run without
being fully synched externally, constantly.
Maybe very occasional minor glitches at boundaries of clock domains.

Any SONET Gurus wanna comment?

[The article is full of hysterics like this.  What it *doesn't* say
is that the rockets have been used to launch OsamaSat, HusseinSat,
etc., none of which exist of course, no such hardware here]

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Number theory makes my brain hurt.