Following the Parson Green terror attack in London Donald Trump has said that the internet must be 'cut off' to stop further terror attacks. This raises a very interesting question, Can the internet be 'cut off'?
The Internet
The internet is a global collection of networked systems. The internet is everywhere, a unimaginable amount of computers systems all linked together by a infrastructure of cables, satellites, routers and access points.
The internet is still growing, everyday people are still being connected to the internet for the first time.
Who is in charge?
Well, nobody....everybody. This is a very hard question to answer. The internet is not a product or service that is owned by one company. So nobody actually "owns" the internet. But the infrastructure and access to the global network is a different story. Internet Providers (upstream) own the pieces of the infrastructure that are the internet's foundation. The Upstream Internet Providers all have their own separate network but their networks are connected at Internet Exchange Points allowing interaction between the different networks.
To gain access to the Internet you will have to make use of the service of smaller Internet service providers (with other words pay them money).
But what all these these companies do is provide access. What happens on the internet is a different story, this is where the users become important.
What goes on on the internet depends for the most part on the users, everybody that connects to the internet is therefore kind of a shareholder of the network.
The Movers and Shakers
All the servers, computers and other devices communicate with each other through protocols. Think of protocols as a universal language that all these internet connected machines understand. These protocols are managed by different organisations
The Internet Society: A nonprofit organization that develops Internet standards and policies.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF): An international organization with an open membership policy. The IETF is split up into different groups. Each group is responsible for a different aspect, for example security.
The Internet Architecture Board (IAB): An IETF committee, the IAB's mission is to oversee the design of Internet protocols and standards.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): A private nonprofit corporation, ICANN manages the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS). ICANN is responsible for making sure that every domain name links to the correct IP address.
These different organisations make sure that the internet keeps running. However they are not part of one central unit, they all maintain different aspect of the internet. The actual content on the Internet can not be influenced by them and is unregulated.
A beautiful mess
The internet is like a blockchain, a beautiful decentralized network that consists of many different parts, controlled or owned by different people/organizations.
To issue control over the internet would mean that all these different people, companies and organizations would have to agree and work together. Then we have to take into account the billions of users who access the internet, the dark web and other alternate Web networks.
So is it possible? Well, in theory it might be possible but it seems very unlikely that this will ever happen.
Is it a good idea? This is impossible to say, it might do more harm than good. You will also have to wonder if this doesn't open the door for more intrusive actions. Where does it stop?
Will it solve anything? In my opinion no. To solve a problem you must take away the root cause and as far as I know the internet is not the root cause of terrorism.
What do you think, 'Cutting off the internet' Good idea or bad? Let me know in the comment section.
How to earn Higher Curation Rewards
Litebit Hacked!
New Signature and Award Giveaway
Important Steemit Statistics
IT Stuff: Web Browser and Security
How to generate more traffic for your Posts
Want to know the ideal length for a Post?