Rakshan Patnaik Week #9: Who Controls the Internet?
Who Controls the Internet?
In today’s world, there isn’t much that is more essential in one’s daily life than the internet. Without the internet, Youtubers can’t publish any videos onto Youtube, my dad can’t login to his meeting on Microsoft Teams, and students in a certain AP English class can’t submit their Blogger assignment. The internet holds so much power in running the world, essentially, so I find it interesting who holds that power. You might think it’s Google, maybe some International Corporation, but definitely not Bing. Anyways, these thoughts are what compelled me to click on Half As Interesting’s video on the “The Seven People Who Can Turn Off the Internet.”
Your computer goes through many servers to get to one website and the final server will return the IP address of that website. This is their public key, a bunch of numbers essentially. But to authenticate this public key, a private key is needed. For example, twitter.com’s public key, 199.59.148.0, needs to be authenticated by Twitter’s private key, which only the company has. But this private key needs to be authenticated by a higher entity, like the .com server. But now the .com server’s public key needs to be authenticated by a higher entity. This pattern continues all the way to ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, whose database contains all IP addresses.
ICANN’s private key is obviously kept top secret. To unlock the box which the numbers are in, you need seven smart keys. Those seven smart keys are also kept in boxes, and to unlock it, you need seven physical keys. And it is those physical keys that are owned by 7 different people all over the world. If someone controlled ICANN’s database, they could change IP addresses or worse, shut the internet down.
photo credits: https://social.dnsmadeeasy.com/blog/the-fourteen-people-who-hold-the-fate-of-the-internet-in-their-hands/
A breach on the internet is not going to happen in the foreseeable future, so the keys are in safe hands. But I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on this video. Being the overthinker I am, I would like to think about my life if the internet suddenly shuts down. That automatically rules out Youtube, online homework, or social media as a pastime. Without the internet, I can already imagine the world freaking out, and CNN immediately put on our TV to check for updates, that is if CNN staff aren’t freaking out themselves. The Stock Market would likely crash and gas prices would skyrocket, due to the business world’s increasing dependence on technology and online transactions. Jobs would be stagnant. I don’t think non-internet online activity will be affected, like phone apps or international calls, but honestly, I’m not sure. Am I making it seem like an apocalypse? Possibly.
The point is, the internet and those who could “control” it have immense power. With more and more coming online, the world and society’s dependence on the internet is becoming more prominent. Activity will be stagnant if the internet is shut down. What would you do?
This is a really interesting concept that did not even pop into my mind from the umbrella of "language and power." I surely did not know there were actual physical keys in the possession of different people to control the internet. Honestly, I think there will be more panic for one day without internet than this whole pandemic we have been through. I do not want to jinx anything, but with everything that has happened these past few years, it is probably not so far-fetched that we will have some sort of crisis relating to the Internet.
ReplyDeleteHey Rakshan, I thought it was really interesting how you discussed the computational order of power regarding the Internet; I don't think many people at all would come to ICANN when asked the question of who controls the internet. In addition to the physical side though, there also many crucial internet applications that would cause drastic affects on media and the internet with much more direct and likely approaches. For example, if sites like Youtube, Instagram, and CNN got removed even individually, it would cause devastating ripples through media and information distribution. It's scary also to think about it the other way around and contemplate what life would be like without the Internet as technology and media has become such a crucial part of today's society and daily routine.
ReplyDeleteHey Rakshan, it is frightening how much we rely on the internet and social media apps. We saw a glimpse of what would happen if there were a social media outage in late 2021 when WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram shut down. Additionally, during the pandemic, Youtube also shut down for a couple of hours. During this time, business could not contact their customers, customers could not find new products, and businesses lost sales. Moreover, Whatsapp is one of the most used social networking apps and in some countries, the primary form of text or call. If emergencies happened, loved ones may have had a harder time reaching friends and family. Today, it’s unfathomable to not have access to the internet.
ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan! If I did not have my internet, I would not be able to complete most of my homework or communicate with my friends, and the thought of that is quite frightening. Right now, I am looking around me and only a few people are not using some sort of electronic, that most likely is connected to the internet. If the internet went out, I would be quite excited at first, as it wouldn't be something I'm used to. However, I am sure it would turn out absolutely miserably after just a few hours. I believe the world would not be able to last ten minutes without internet and without panicking.
ReplyDeleteHey Rakshan! I find it really interesting that you decided to discuss how much power the internet has and how much we depend on it, along with who really has the power? It’s frightening to think that the internet is the basis of our lives everyday. Without the internet, we wouldn’t be able to do so many of the things we do daily. To think that the internet is where we learn from, do homework, talk to friends, keep in touch with family and so much more is crazy. It seems like everything we do has some relation to the internet which scares me because what if we didn’t have the internet for a year? What would our lives be like then?
ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan! If the internet were to shut down, even though it sounds a bit dramatic, the world would definitely be seriously impacted, and like you said, perhaps even an apocalypse. Not only would I be unable to access this blog post, but everything else would also be in shambles; from economies to international communications. The internet is indeed a powerful thing and holds much of what we spend our lives on.
ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan, the seven keys held by seven people reads like a mystery novel. It's really surprising that that is what they resort to when looking for the highest level of security. The Internet, one of the most powerful tools in the world, used by billions, can be so vulnerable at times. A system that seems impenetrable and untouchable is still at risk to people trying to command its power and dislocate the systems that keep the world's systems alive.
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ReplyDeleteHi Rakshan,
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they decided to make 7 keys. Why not 20? I am sure no one would be out to destroy or hack the internet. They would probably need the internet to even do that. However, maybe someone may want to steal the keys so that they gain power over the internet which can then be used to bribe or sell for something else they want—still seems excessive. The more I am reading these blogs, the more I am realizing that the people with the most power are often the lesser-known people whose unique abilities or possessions keep themselves lucrative. Now I understand why government matters have to be connected to a private internet server. They need to ensure that national security cannot be jeopardized by the misuse of those seven keys by their sacred keepers.
Hi Rakshan, we definitely can’t live nowadays without the internet. It was fascinating to learn that there are 7 real keys given to people to unlock the box that keeps the 7 smart keys. Like we have gone around in a circle, right back to real boxes with real keys. Everything we do in modern society would just stop if the internet was shut off. Literally everything we do. We would then sit there and panic. Then collectively panic as a nation and world. Then we’d need to go ask senior citizens who remember how to live without an internet what they used to do. I can’t believe we don’t have these kinds of drills sometimes, just to ensure that we know what to do in the event that something like this happened in real life. Sounds like a movie waiting to happen.
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