Has the US Government Ever Turned Off the Internet?

One cannot ‘turn off’ the internet as it is a cooperative collection of hundreds of networks and millions of content providers hosting servers. A common communications standard is agreed upon by these participants.

While some countries may have a ‘national network’ where everyone relies on it, disconnecting from the rest of the world would effectively turn off their portion of the internet. This is far less of an issue in the United States, where there are dozens, if not hundreds, of commercial networks that provide internet access to the public. The US government has no control over these commercial networks.

Separately, the US government and military maintain their own networks. In the event of a security threat, they can disconnect from both the rest of the world and their internal networks, but this would not affect the majority of internet users in the US. This is a rarely discussed aspect of cybersecurity and internet infrastructure.

Design and Resilience of the Internet

The internet was designed with resilience and redundancy in mind, making it difficult to take down. Its resistance to catastrophic events, such as a nuclear war, was intentional. An internet infrastructure designed to continue functioning even when individual nodes go down ensures its resilience.

While it would be challenging to disrupt the internet, a coordinated effort involving a very small number of ISPs could theoretically provide a partial control. The 'last mile' of internet access is dominated by a few large ISPs, with a large number of users relying on them. In the US, it is estimated that more than 80% of internet users can be accounted for with just a handful of ISPs.

Even if a government were to target these ISPs with the aim to manipulate internet content and messaging, it would require new legislation, which would likely face significant opposition in Congress. The internet and its infrastructure are deeply rooted in public and political interests that would be difficult to override.

Ways to Maintain Internet Resilience

Assuming the internet were to be targeted, there are a few ways to mitigate the impact. Providing an alternative DNS system would be a key mechanism for recovery. Theoretically, a browser plug-in could be created by skilled engineers to facilitate a temporary alternative DNS system if the internet were tampered with.

In conclusion, while it is theoretically possible to 'turn off' a portion of the internet through targeted ISP disruption, the widespread adoption of the internet in the US makes such an action highly unlikely and deeply controversial. Understanding the structural resilience of the internet is critical for both policy makers and internet users.