Russia is considering a temporary disconnect from the world wide web to test cybersecurity
and possibly move towards an autonomous Russian internet infrastructure.
But can they even do that, just up and leave the internet?
Will they be able to watch cat videos?
Is there some owner of the internet who can stop them?
As you may have noticed, the internet is huge.
It’s a global network that connects computers around the entire world; I can be in Barcelona
and theoretically access the exact same websites that I do in Los Angeles.
You know, so long as local laws and Digital Rights Management permit.
Something this huge can’t be owned by any one entity.
Instead, it’s a hierarchy of structures with lots of smaller owners along the way.
It starts with you.
When your computer or smart device is connected to the internet you become a teeny tiny part
of it.
You rely on an Internet Service Provider, or ISP, to physically connect you to everyone
else.
Actually, you rely on multiple ISPs, which form tiers of networks.
The tiers are determined by network size, which also dictates whether they transfer
data by paying for the transit across larger networks or share it with other similarly
sized networks for mutually agreed upon benefits.
At the lowest level is a Tier 3 ISP.
These are companies like Comcast or Verizon Communications, and they strictly operate
by paying to send their data using bigger, more well-connected networks.
They’re also known as Last Mile Providers because, well, they’re responsible for the
last miles of cable that connects your access point to the overall network.
Above that is a Tier 2 ISP, which can either pay to send data across larger networks like
Tier 3 ISPs or they share data with networks of a similar size for mutual benefits, what’s
known as “peering” without charge.
Nowadays they can be also provide last mile service like Tier 3 ISPs, and they’re companies
like British telekom and Vodafone.
And finally, above that are the Tier 1 ISPs the huge networks that own the cables connecting
entire continents.
These companies are also known as backbone internet providers.
They connect to other Tier 1 ISPs to exchange traffic through peering agreements, and just
like that you have a global network of computers.
Considering how huge and complex it is, it’s pretty incredible the thing works at all.
That’s all thanks to several organizations, many of which are nonprofit, that standardize
how the internet works globally.
They each have their own responsibilities, like setting standards, maintaining architecture
and stability, and assigning each domain name with a unique IP address.
These organizations don’t own the internet, but have a profound effect on how the whole
thing works.
Likewise, the internet can be regulated in specific places based on the local government’s
rules, like China’s censorship laws or the U.S.’s rules on net neutrality.
So if Russia’s government wanted to disconnect from the rest of the world wide web, ultimately
that’s up to them.
If you wanted to be a bigger part of the internet you could make a website.
You’d need a specialized computer called a server, which is like a beefy computer with
a lot of storage space that’s designed to communicate with other computers.
There are actually lots of server types, like email and Domain Name System servers, but
your website would be stored on a web server at a data center somewhere.
Now imagine your website is awesome because it’s got the best pictures of cats ever
on it.
It’s so popular someone on the other side of the world wants to access it.
Then the entire pipeline looks like this: you pay a web host, which owns web servers,
to use one or part of their servers to store your data..
Or in this case “cata.”
Let’s say your particular web server is connected to a Tier 2 ISP, so the data is
sent to a Tier 1 ISP, which shares that data with another Tier 1 ISP, which distributes
it to lower tier ISPs until eventually it winds up at your number 1 fan’s computer
on the other side of the globe.
I made that sound pretty linear but actually the data is broken up into smaller chunks
called packets, which are routed from a server using many paths through the networks until
they’re reassembled at a person’s computer.
Unless that person was, say, in Russia during the temporary disconnect.
That user could still access cat memes on web servers that are in Russia somewhere and
connected to Russia’s ISPs, but if those ISPs don’t exchange data with anyone outside
the country then effectively there’s a virtual wall between them and the outside world.Likewise
you would miss out on any Russian cat videos you wanted to see outside the country.
Everywhere along the way, someone owns a part of the internet.
It’s your website but a web host’s server.
It’s their server, but an ISP’s network.
It’s their network, but they need to connect to an even bigger network.
And there are other equally big networks they need to connect to to make the whole thing
global.
So everyone connected to it owns the internet, and nobody does.
Pretty cool.
Do you think you can go without global internet?
Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to subscribe for more science in your day.
If you like internet news like this, check out Maren’s video about how we can possibly
make internet faster with twisted light.
Thanks for watching fellow internet consumers and I’ll see you next time on Seeker.