This caught my eye "travelled along fibre optic lines and hit the closest exchange first, where high frequency traders would get a glimpse, and then use their speed advantage to beat him to the other 12 US public exchanges and 45 private trading venues."

Why not simple stagger the network dispatch to those exchanges so the order hits all exchanges at exactly the same time and with that protect you from HFT snipping tactics. Seem simple solution and somewhat obvious so what am I missing?