The Internet is the backbone of data transmission over the network, the technical infrastructure that makes it possible. At its core, the Internet is a large network of computers that “connect and communicate” with each other.
The history of the Internet dates back to the 1960s. It was created as a research project funded by the US Army and then developed into a public infrastructure with the support of many universities and private companies. The various technologies that support the Internet have evolved over
time, but the way it works hasn't changed much.
How does the Internet work?
When you need to establish a connection between two computers, you can either connect them physically (using an Ethernet cable ) or wirelessly (for example, using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth ). All modern computers support various types of connections.
Note : In this article, we will only talk about cables, however, the principle of wireless networks is the same.
More than two computers can connect to the network. You can connect as many PCs as you like. By increasing the number of connected devices, you complicate the very process of establishing communication between them. If you are trying to link ten computers, for example, you will need 45 cables with nine plugs per PC!
To solve this problem, each device on the network is connected to a special tiny computer called a router . He has only one task: to make sure that the message sent from one computer gets to the desired PC. To send a message to computer B, computer A must first send it to the router, which, in turn, will forward the message to the desired PC and make sure that it is not delivered to another device.
After we add the router to our network diagram, we only need 10 cables, as well as a plug for each computer and a router with 10 plugs.
Consolidation of networks
If we are talking about a small network, then the above option is great for establishing a connection between computers. But what about connecting hundreds, thousands, billions of devices? Of course, here already one router will not be enough. You already know that a router is also a computer, so what's stopping us from connecting two routers to each other ? So let's do it.
By connecting computers to routers, and then routers to routers, we can grow the network indefinitely.
Such a network is very similar to what we call the Internet, but we have forgotten about something. We created it for our own purposes. After all, there are other networks: your friends, neighbors, relatives. Anyone can create their own network of computers. However, it is impossible to run a cable from your home to the rest of the world. And what should we do now? Well, there are already cables running to your house with which you can call other people (telephone) or turn on the light (electricity). The telephone network connects you to people all over the world, so this is exactly the cable we need. To connect our network to the telephone infrastructure, you need special equipment, which is called a modem. ... It converts information from our computer, making it available for both sending and receiving over the telephone network.
We are now connected to the telephone infrastructure . The next step is to send messages from our network to another network. To do this, you need to use the services of Internet Service Providers (ISP) . An ISP is a company that operates the routers that are interconnected and can also access the routers of other ISPs. Thus, our message is transmitted through the ISP network to the desired network. The Internet includes many of these separate network connections.
World wide web illustration
But how big is the Internet? How many such networks does it combine? There are millions of devices connected to the Internet, and it would seem that it is impossible to display them all in one picture. However, California researcher Barrett Lyon proved otherwise.
In November 2003, security researcher Barrett Lyon was in his final year at California State University in Sacramento, working as a pentester - a hacker hired by companies to find weaknesses in their own systems. At the beginning of penetration testing, Lyon always performed a basic reconnaissance of the customer's infrastructure. “Just in case,” as he himself says. He realized that, in this way, he could deduce a formula with the help of which he can see what the new network looks like for future penetration testing. “This formula became the basis for creating software that can do all the work for me,” says Lyon.
One day while dining with colleagues, Lyon Barrett suggested using his network mapper to draw the entire Internet. “They thought it was a pretty funny idea, so they bet me 50 bucks that I couldn't do it,” he says. But he did it.
In the process of creating the Internet illustration, a huge number of thin intersecting lines, stellar flares and branches were involved. This picture became an image of the global network in the early 2000s. Lyon called his work “ Opte,” and although his colleagues were initially skeptical of the “art form,” the final product immediately began to gain attention from fans on Slashdot and beyond .
Later " Opte " appeared on the net in a completely new guise . The original version used " traceroutes ", diagnostic commands that explored various paths in the network to visualize the Internet with its tangled branches and nooks. However, this technique may not be completely accurate when creating an illustration of the Internet. Therefore, in 2010 at the exhibition of the original painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Lyon thought about alternatives to create his masterpiece. Instead of drawing a map of the Internet based on trace routes, he used the routing tables of the Border Gateway Protocol. This gave him the opportunity to get a more accurate picture of the world wide web. He used this approach in the future.
The original Opte was still a static image , but the 2021 version is 10K video . BGP data from the Oregon State University Route Views project was used to map the global Internet from 1997 to the present. Lyon has been working on the visualization for several months and has used a number of applications, tools and scripts to create it. One of them is a software package called Large Graph Layout , originally designed for imaging protein images. He uses hundreds of different visual layouts until he finds the most effective and representative solution for the task at hand. Thus, a “ perfect picture of the network was created . », Which depicts all the long, interconnected data transmission routes on the Internet. The closer to the center a network is, the more connections it has with other networks.
While the concept itself (" render the entire Internet ") remains the same, animation allows the new version of "Opte" to be more interactive. The resulting illustrations are free for non-commercial use. Lyon has also created several diagrams and videos that are of particular interest . One of them shows the Internet space of China with its tightly controlled two connections inside and outside the country. Lyon has also shown a massive US military presence on the Internet, including networks such as NIPRNET and SIPRNET.
The new version of Opte can also track major internet events such as Iran's national internet shutdown in 2019 . The video also shows BGP route leaks and malicious network redirection incidents. The new animated picture of the Internet is designed in such a way that Lyon can change it over time.
While Opte is a striking visualization of the size and meaning of the Internet for humans, Lyon argues that his work also points to the network's inability to become truly decentralized and free as it stands. This is especially true for countries and regions where restrictions related to the use of the global network have been introduced.
“When I watch this video, each of the little squiggles and waves seems to me like people roaming the Internet,” says Lyon. “People use the Internet, they are building a worldwide network, literally crossing oceans and mountains, using fiber optic, putting up poles and digging ditches. All this work is displayed in one video. However, some countries are too secretive in this matter, so it is impossible to accurately display their Internet activity. "
Based on materials from Wired.