Can The Internet Be Shut Down?
 

I know this thing was built for surviving major disasters and attacks, but could the internet be shut down totally?

Let's say the powers that be didn't want us to say something, could they shut it down? Would there be any geniuses who could bypass and still send and receive information?

so long as theres porn the internet will exist

yes, take down all the major backbone providers and bam..

Not possible, the internet is owned by many seperate networks.

Nothing is impossible..... I agree it is totally unPROBABLE....but anything is possible

Wo, I thought there were far too many diverse providers to take out all at once. Some are so protected that not even a nuke could take them out.

some egg farts might do the job

to kill it you just need to take down most of the root servers.

The goverment has resources we only dream of. If they had a reson the net would be gone in 5 minutes

Yep.. It could probably be done by killing the 13 root DNS servers..


But why would anyone shut down the internet?

Turn off your computer...works everytime for me.

ADG Webmaster

Oh? Sounds reasonable BUT aren't there enough servers around the globe to counter this? Besides, if the government shut down the net wouldn't it fuck up more money than mankind could possibly imagine?

The US Government controls the Master Root Zone File which authorizes all the TLD's worldwide. That's essentially the key to the store. :)

i don't think that is plausible. unless there is a large scale nuclear attack. the thing is too vast and diverse to go down completely.

If you fuck with the Master Root Zone File you could essentially turn off any TLD .

Any and all goverments in the world operate on a morality and agenda we can only speculate about it.

They don't need money.
All that they require is that we stay under their control.

So, if any goverment, especially the United States, had a reason. They would flip the switch in a heart beat.

(Then they would cook up some bullshit story about why they did it and everyone would believe it and be thankful.)

it is totally possible, however...if they killed all dns records...well....aren't there enough dns servers that would keep it alive fot ISPs? I think the way you would do it is hit the IP routing tables.

or we could ask al gore, i'm sure he knows how to shut his child off.

The end of the days is near :helpme

Skynet became self-aware at 02:37 PST September 17, 2005.

Probably not since there's so many backbones all over the world now. And even if they are taken out aren't there small tributaries that can reroute the data?

There's far more than 13 root servers that control the DNS system. Then again
if you would be able to kill all of them it will only mean that DNS servers won't
get updated......but it will still keep on running....and even in the case they
won't then still will all the networks be up and running.......everything will
still be accesible by IP addresses.....The destruction of our planet is the
only thing that will kill the entire internet......good luck :thumbsup

If the world was completely destroyed by aliens, then yes, the internet would be shut down.

seems logical. i have changed the reverse IP records before changing the NS records and some dns servers took the ip record as authoritive. It pissed my off because I wasn't ready to make the change yet and I had to scramble to finish making the web sites live. So if IP routing tables and DNS records were erased, wouldn't that open everyone up to hijacking domains and sites? you can bet i'd be putting www.ebay.com and www.google.com on my server just to divert traffic.

it is a robust and redundant system. however, i wouldn't be suprised if there was a way to shut it down on a mass scale.

i remember that when allot of the US lost internet because of the power outages. even though i wasn't effected websites were either slow or non-exsistant.

a constantly rolling IP change would fuck things up for good.

http://apps.internet2.edu/images/200...se-titanic.jpg

Impossible...

ADG Webmaster

pretty sure there are only 13 authoritive dns servers which the rest of the world leaches from

http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/traver...gfy.com&type=A

i'm sure there are plently of backups and redundancy though.

and when i say servers, I mean actual server clusters running as one, not actual boxes

i push of my keyboard and POOF the magic dragon.

It's probably possible, but is unlikely because 1) it would be difficult considering the internet is served from all over the world 2) big business utilizes the internet - governments benefit from big businesses such as Google, Microsoft, all down the line to the video games people play. So from a logistic, financial, and political point of view, there is really no reason why any single entity with the power to try and shut it down would.

DNS root servers are not "The Internet" and killing the current 13 root DNS servers would not turn off the Internet, it probably wouldn't even kill off the domain system since if the currently accepted system was killed, people would just migrate to one of the other alternative DNS root systems that already exist.

Anything that can be turned on can be shut down.

The powers that be wouldnt shut it down since they love to keep an eye on you.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

If you killed or hacked all the root servers the WEB would fail. Surprised some hacker has not accomplished that already. They have come close.

I think subordinate name servers would keep it going for awhile. That would be the usefulness of the web! Not the Internet. The Internet would still be in place via IP addresses so far in the thread discussion.

An attack on the routers would be more damaging. There are way more routers than root name servers. I suspect the US government for the most part holds the keys totally. I'd bet that there is a plan in place to shut it down if needed or if a need was perceived. Like to stop the terrorists attacking the country.

Maybe services like AOL could stayup using dialup????? There was a time when they would of. NOT sure anymoe???

Exactly in 2019. There is the comet that is heading to Earth... Really! I hope someone would think of something to help us not die.... :(

You can turn it off here:

http://www.turnofftheinternet.com/

Tue Jan 19 03:14:07 2038 the Unix side of things will revert to Fri Dec 13 20:45:52 1901 which I predict (although I know I wont be here to see it) will be touted by the media as the Friday the 13th CRISIS!!!! OMG - the whole of the Internet as we know it will die!!!! :1orglaugh

You can call Al Gore, I am sure he knows where the switch is. :thumbsup

EMP could take out the majority of end users in an area but most backbones/military/redundant systems would survive at least a single blast.

Effects of an EMP

Although the electric field created from an EMP lasts for only a short time, its effects can be devastating. It is predicted that a single high altitude burst 200 miles above Kansas could propagate an EMP enveloping the entire United States. Electrical systems connected to things that can conduct current like wires, antennas, and metal objects will suffer significant damage. EMP effects on electronics include interference of radio frequency links, irreparable damage to microcircuits, and even the disabling of satellites. Fortunately, electronic equipment that is turned off is less likely to be damaged.

impossible to take down the whole net.

I don't see the point of this ... seriously ;)

Easy to take down all domain names but not the whole internet. But you would only be able to visit sites via ip addresses - check the video out in this link: http://www.softwarediscussion.com/fo...?showtopic=455