Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Well, I just saw this interesting blog post on MSNBC. It talks about an article predicting that there will be widespread internet outages soon enough. It's an interesting read, even if I don't understand half of it.

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/03/the_real_threat.html#posts

Makes you think about what would happen if the internet really did just shut down like that, at least.

I have a hard time really getting worked up about this, simply because I remember the day before the internet. It wasn't a big deal to do things like actually go to the library, balance my checkbook once a month rather than twice a week, or talk to people in person or over the phone.

Tack onto that the fact that people don't change things unless they're forced to by a) public outcry, b) self interest, or c) governmental regulation, and I figure that if the problem doesn't fix itself, it'll get fixed when it becomes a really big problem.

So, enh. The worst that could possibly happen is that we all die because some chemical or nuclear plant is run entirely over the internet and has no backups. But I guess at that point I really won't be in much of a worrying mood, so I'm not going to now, either.

Hiya grandad!

Anyway, I don't understand half of that article. Anyone care to sum up the technical jargon for me?

Sure.

Every computer has its own individual address, called an IP address. Every server has its own, as well.

There are 13 big honkin' servers around the world that do all of the sorting of IP addresses and turn them into domain names. So, the IP address 256.128.1.1 (not a real IP number, by the way) gets turned into Thisisawebsite.com by those 13 servers. You ask to go to thisisawebsite.com, your computer contacts the big server, which says, "Ah, ha! That's 256.128.1.1!!" and tells your computer that number, and your computer goes to that website.

Many companies also have their own internal domain name servers that do the same thing, basically, except on the office level - maybe you want to contact a coworker's network drive.

Theoretically, there are an infinite number of potential IP addresses, because each IP address can actually refer you again to another more internal IP address, and so on and so forth.

Anyway, a nasty bad person could hi-jack a few computers and tell them, "Ask website1.com to contact internetaddress2.com to get some information." In theory, website1.com's own domain server would stop the bad person at this point, because it only has a trusted list of sites that are allowed to contact it.

But if bad person could trick website 1.com into thinking that the original request actually came from internetaddress2.com, and it trusts that particular set of servers, then it would happily send all sorts of information, or perhaps just a bunch of pings. Tricking the computer into thinking data came from someplace it didn't is called "spoofing."

If enough computers are involved in the initial request, then website1.com (and maybe website2.com, and website3.net, and any other websites the bad person wants to involve in this) would flood internetaddress2.com with all sorts of requests for information, and internetaddress2.com shuts down from overload.

And all this because most computers like website1.com aren't configured to do "Reverse path authentication," which basically is just figuring out whether data actually came from where it says it did.

And thus, the end of the internet, because it would just shut itself down from overload.

Also known as a massive denial of service attack. Usually they're done with groups of people logging on at once or even a tiny line of code, but this involves entire networks.

Personally I'm not too worried. Sure, I'll be bummed out for awhile, but I'll be able to live.

(Sorry, I noticed this thread, but didn't read the article, so I don't know if this is covered)

Wouldn't this have a massive impact on many corporations, services and so forth? If the internet went out, I can think of many things that could be disasterous on a professional basis, rather than simply a leisurely basis. Sure, many companies would have the option of calling their contacts (mostly in the ordering sense rather than a man-to-man business sense) instead of doing email orders, and those type of things, but in the end, they would still be losing time and in the end money as well. The internets also a huge medium for advertising and actual purchases (and some companies actually depend on it) It may actually be a huge blow on the economy if the internet were lost (depending on the length of time, but even a day could be huge).

Call me crazy (and/or addicted to the internet) but if the internet ever went out for good, I'd have a nervous breakdown. I mean, I have a big life on the internet, and so many friends I'd never be able to get in contact with again, and -

*stays optimistic*

The internet will not die. The internet will not die.

However, if it was just my computer and a few others', I have other ones I can go onto.

I remember a time before the internet as well. It was a blissful, literate age without the "lol omg brb!" talk and break-ups over IM. People, in order to contact each other, actually had to talk. It's an amazing concept, I know.

I would, however, personally be very distraught. No access to my email, to my friends around the world, to resources that I could never find at the library, to my main form of entertainment. The internet has actually provided so much good for me, in the fact it has let me expand my social circle beyond that of this silly city and also because it has made available to me a literal highway of information at my fingertips. I won't be scared to admit that the internet has provided me a great improvement in life as opposed to no internet.

IMHO (ha!) the best way to not lose touch with your friends is just to not have friends.

To be honest, I'm not too worried.

I mean, no internet would be disasterous. Millions of people will lose their jobs, their livlihood. Countless businesses will collapse, and stocks will plummet. Society would stand still for a week at least, and we'll see something of a Great Depression all around the world.

But I'm not worried