This sounds like something out of aDan Brownbook , but it is n’t : The whole internet is controlled by seven factual , forcible tonality .
The Guardian ’s James Ballwas recently allowed to observe the highly secure ritual have a go at it asa key ceremonial .
The people conduct the ceremony are part of an organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN ) . ICANN is responsible for for assigning numerical internet addresses to websites and computers and translating them into the normal web addresses that masses type into their browsers .
For representative , type 64.27.101.155 into your internet browser , and you ’ll be taken to Business Insider ’s web page . But www.businessinsider.com is wanton for people to think back . ICANN maps the number ( easy for computers to habituate ) with words ( gentle for humans to use ) .
If someone were to gain control of ICANN ’s database , that individual would control the internet . For illustration , the person could send people to fake cant websites instead of real bank building site .
On the other hand , if a calamity happened , the ICANN database could need to be rebuild . So ICANN came up with a way to do that without entrusting too much ascendancy to any one person . It selected seven masses as primal holder and gave each one an actual tonality to internet . It selected seven more people to be backup cardinal holders : 14 multitude in all .
The forcible keys unlock good deposit boxes stashed around the world . Inside those boxes are impertinent key card . Put the seven smartcards together and you have the " master key . " The sea captain paint is really some estimator computer code , a watchword of sorts that can get at the ICANN database .
Four times a yr since 2010 the seven cardinal holders see for the key ceremonial occasion where they generate a new superior key , i.e. a new password .
The security to be admitted to the ceremonial is intense , Ball report , and involves passing through a series of locked door using fundamental codes and hand scanner , until record a room so secure that no electronic communications can lam it .
The group conducts the ritual , then each somebody charge out of the room one by one , and then they all head to a restaurant and company .
Here ’s Ball ’s detailedaccount of the ceremony that most late happen .
Here ’s a video of the very first primal ceremony conducted in 2010 . skitter to 1:58 to see the ceremony .
take the original article onBusiness Insider . Copyright2017 .
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