It looks like it's straight out of a Dan Brown book, but it's real
It sounds like something out of a Dan Brown story: The entire internet is literally controlled by seven “keys.” A Guardian reporter recently visited the ICANN headquarters and watched the high-security “key ceremony.”.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN ) is probably unknown to most people, but it actually affects the lives of countless people, since its mission is to oversee the addresses of the entire Internet. ICANN is the great controller of the Network. It is based on a technical background consisting of thirteen powerful computers, also called "base servers", which are located in the USA (four in California and six near Washington), Europe (Stockholm and London) and Japan (Tokyo).
ICANN's main mission is to coordinate the addresses (Domain Name System, DNS), which the user types to access a website. Simply put, every computer connected to the Internet has a unique address, called an "IP address" (Internet Protocol address). These addresses are made up of numbers, which are difficult to remember. But DNS allows us to use letters and familiar words, that is, a "name", instead of numbers. How? DNS converts the name into the numbers that correspond to the IP address, and thus allows our computer to connect to the website it wants.
As stated on its website, "ICANN has a mission to maintain the operational stability of the Internet, promote competition, ensure the universality of Internet communications, and develop policy consistent with its mission, in accordance with a consensus process.".
To accomplish the above mission, ICANN selected seven people who have access to its database, giving each of them a “key” to the Internet. As support for this group, there are seven more backups, while the origins of the electors are from all over the world. The physical keys unlock safes hidden around the world. Inside these boxes are smart key cards. Put the seven smart cards together and you have the “master key.” The master key is computer code, a password to access the ICANN database.
Since 2010, it has been decided that the seven holders of the "keys" will meet four times a year, in a ceremony where they renew the codes. According to the newspaper's journalist, the security rules at these ceremonies are very strict.
See the Guardian
