I have always wondered if it is impossible to destroy the internet all together... is this even possible?

If it is possible to destroy the internet what would you have to do? Would you have to destroy all the Internet companys like comcast and aol? Or would that not even take care of it?

Just think, if someone took down the entire internet not only would our lives be boring but it would basically destroy the U.S. & other big countries all at once.

There isn't a way to take down the internet. Not permanently anyway. The most you can do is take out an area at a time by destroying the systems at an Internet Hosting Provider. Even then you wouldn't really be able to destroy it all completely. People would still have the internet. Plus without Internet, the economy would drop, communication would have to go back to telephone, and all hell would break loose.

Actually, while it may not be possible to remove the internet, it is possible to create a way to stop people from using it.

Have you heard of, "Digital Doomsday"? This is a theory that, what with all the internet hackers getting smarter every day, soon someone will have figured out a way to send a powerful virus to everyone connected to the internet, with the ability to permanently jam the connections. This basically will make the internet useless, which is just as bad as destroying it, really.

When I was creating this topic I was thinking about something like that but I couldn't really come up with the right words to explain it and it still sound correct but that is another thing I have thought about before. If all computers are connected somehow there could always just be a way to block each computer at once right?

Why o why do you think of such evil things? LOL j/k I think it's possible, I'm not sure how, but there must be some way to make block everything, which makes it impossible to have anymore acces to the internet. Maybe the internet won't be fully 'removed', but atleast it's cluttered and non-usable or something. But then again, why would somebody want to do that It's not fully, but almost something like destroying the earth, since the internet forms another sort of 'world' we are living in and dependent of in so many ways. I hope this thread is not giving certain sick minds hope or inspiration O.O

I know what you mean, ink. We are so dependant on the internet for communication and transportation nowadays, losing it would be a big blow. I have this book called "The Incredible Internet" which lists everything that'd happen if "Digital Doomsday", comes true. Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced it, so I cant tell you what it says.

When I made this thread I didnt intend for it to give anyone sick idea but im sure anyone who wants to cause tons of problems has probably already thought of something such as that. Personally I think its a very interesting topic & if it is actually possible to block all computers from each other then the government really needs a backup plan, at least for all the financial parts of the internet.

One of the reasons the Internet developed was to PREVENT such an occurance. Networks were supposed to prevent a system from being taken down in an attack because all the information was shared among multiple sites. If one bank of computers were destroyed, for example, the others would still have backup.

At least, that's what I remember from High School Computers. More info than I currently care to read here. Forgive my mistakes above.

That having been said, things have progressed beyond the original intention. Hackers, both individual and in groups, have infinitely more skills that could have been imagined in the days of ARPANET. The danger no longer lies without, but within.

Could the internet be taken down? In my naive opinion, yes, but not permentantly. The human condition encourages people to continually strive to both destroy and create, and I can only hope the later will always be at least as strong as the former.

As for the fear this thread will encourage such destruction - that's like blaming violence on video games. People are going to do what they want to do within the limits of their knowledge. True, we might have planted the seed in one person that previously hadn't thought about it. We're far from the first to consider it, however, and if they were truly interested, they would have found the idea somewhere else.

Ignoring a problem will not make it go away. Those that are concerned MUST discuss it, if only to realise the depth of the threat.