Problem with the Internet? Reboot it.

Rebooting fixes a lot of problems. Computer acting strange? Reboot. iPad locked up? Reboot. Smartphone not responding? Reboot.

You can add the Internet to this list. Apparently, seven people across the globe are in possession of a smart card which contains a portion of an encryption key needed to reboot the Internet in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.

In the event of a disaster, five of these seven people (I guess it doesn’t matter which five) need to meet at a secure location with their smart cards to reboot the Internet. In other words, if someone infiltrates or otherwise compromises the Internet, these seven people can reboot it.

More explanation of the process, which has been in place since 2010 (who knew?), is given in this video below:

If you can not see the embedded video above please use the following link: The Seven Horsemen of the Web Apocalypse

A few things bother me about this

Not that I have any better idea, but a few things bother me about both this process and the video. For starters, what happens if said natural disaster actually wipes out 3 or more of these keyholders, leaving only 4 or fewer remaining? What happens if one of them dies? Or if their smartcard is stolen?

Worse yet, one of the guys holding a key identifies himself in this video. Wouldn’t you think we would want to keep their identities secret? Or maybe they are smarter than I give them credit for and the guy in this video is a decoy (lucky him).

Either way, I guess it’s official. The Internet has its own Ctrl-Alt-Delete.