Trivia: Seven for the Data-lords in their halls of code

Here’s something a bit more technological than the other trivia pieces. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is an organization responsible for assigning numerical internet address to websites and storing said numbers in a massive database to help add another level of security to those websites. If someone were to gain control of this database, they could essentially rule the web, and if something destroyed the database it could essentially shut down the web. (But that’s not the trivia tidbit, only the build up.)

Luckily, data is never truly lost and to recover the database from cyberspace ICANN created a bunch of computer code that works as a password to access it and get the web running again. To protect this password, it was split into seven “keys,” which were given to seven people around the globe, and seven backup “keys” were made and distributed to seven other people around the world. If five of these keys are brought together in a secret location, they can be used to bring back ICANN’s database and save the internet. This is only to be done in the case of a catastrophic event. How catastrophic? The example given in one interviews was “East Coast is hit by a nuke.”

So, to sum up. We have seven people scattered across the planet, who are only to be called upon in a time of great destruction, who must travel across continents to meet at a secret location where they each use a piece of a “master key” to restore an invisible repository of all of the world’s information which can only be accessed by using special equipment. Don’t try and tell me that doesn’t sound like the plot to a fantasy or sci-fi novel!

Seriously, this is awesome! If the internet wasn’t already like magic, it sure is now (just think about your computer for a minute and you’ll realize it’s not that different from a crystal ball). Honestly I kind of want to write about this someday. Imagine, it’d be like mixing James Bond with Lord of the Rings!

I hoped you liked this factoid, and if you want more info you can find it with a quick google search. Keep it Reel!

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