Berners-Lee says no off switch for Internet, photo proves he's wrong

World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee says there's no off switch for the Internet, but he's wrong. I found it and here's photographic proof. Anyway, I still like what he said at yesterday's World Wide Web Foundation Web Index event:

The way the internet is designed is very much as a decentralized system. At the moment, because countries connect to each other in lots of different ways, there is no one off-switch, there is no central place where you can turn it off.
In order to be able to turn the whole thing off or really block, suppress one particular idea then the countries and governments would have to get together and agree and co-ordinate and turn it from a decentralized system to being a centralized system. And if that does happen it is really important that everybody fights against that sort of direction.

"Web inventor denies 'off-switch'" (Press Association)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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J Wagner

I hate when people install toggle switches upside down (up is on, down is off, look at your wall switch).
- http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art
  
  Exactly! :)
- http://twitter.com/MartianEmpress Rezeya Montecore
  
  Hey, don’t tell them how to live! They’re challenging your ossified notions of “up” and “down”! This is REAL anarchy!
- cellocgw
  
  Well, obviously it was done to fool the Evil Overlords who might try to turn off the Web! On possibly more serious note — consider that “down” is the default position, so the desired default is “on,” hence the inversion.
- Paul Renault
  
  You’ve never been to the UK, eh? This is how lights switches work there. Up is off, down is on.
  - J Wagner
    
    Things are very different across the pond. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-139695.html
    
    I do like the outlets with protectors covering the power slots that open when the plug is inserted. Here in the US we allow our children to stick things in the outlets and learn about 120V the hard way.
    - Gatto
      
      shocking.
- http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
  
  Not in the circumstance where two switches control the same light. My kitchen has light switches at both ends, and whichever one is used first changes the light state independent of its position.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

That coily thing is an Internet Pipe.

When traffic is heavy it boings around.
- http://twitter.com/MartianEmpress Rezeya Montecore
  
  Yeah, unfortunately this one is improperly sealed — if you look carefully, you can see a bit of 4chan encrusted around the jack.
  - ImmutableMichael
    
    I didn’t know it was possible to laugh and shudder with imagined horror at the same time until I read your comment.
chenille

Berners-Lee could be right; all the sign says is that you need it on for normal operations. I bet that switch is really there to suppress the other mode.
- Bersl
  
  It’s a magic/more magic switch in disguise.
nathanroberts

For some reason, this reminds me of the Magic Switch Story
http://twitter.com/cbmills CB Mills

The internet looked a little different when they showed it on The IT Crowd…
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZH5LQHHJPERMWNVHCR2Y5GRHHE Jose
  
  That was when it didn’t weigh anything.
  
  The IT Crowd – This, Jen, is the internet
http://www.facebook.com/marko.raos Marko Raos

That’s what They would like you to think.
jeligula

It very well could be that that particular switch is in an office building and refers to that connection alone.
- http://twitter.com/MartianEmpress Rezeya Montecore
  
  Truly you have a keen and dizzying vantage upon our world.
  
  Incidentally, you might want to check the wall immmediately behind and over your head. There’s a joke impacted there.
http://twitter.com/MBCKR Matt Becker

Not entirely related, but the Wikimedia Foundation has a switch that controls the power to their servers. It, too, carries appropriate warnings: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DANGER_Revert_All_Edits_DANGER.jpg
http://twitter.com/TheRedMonk01 Red Monk

Everyone knows this http://www.techienation.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/giantdlink.jpg is the real internet.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=749833892 Florian Braun

If i was ever in the room with that switch i would both be terrified of turning it to off and have an overpowering urge to do just that….
awjt

Hey, could someone switch the Internet back on? I can’t get youtube right now and I need it.
http://twitter.com/tudza tudza

Probably the same idea as the knife switches I’ve seen on the wall in secured rooms to cut the connection for the telephone.
chaopoiesis

The real Internet switch is hooked to bombs. Lots of hydrogen bombs. Or power plants.
http://www.la2thebay.com/ Captain backslap

gizmodo has a lovely guide on how to destroy the internet http://gizmodo.com/5912383/how-to-destroy-the-internet
http://profiles.google.com/spacewatcer Marios P.

I think he is partly wrong. China seems to be doing a very good work when it comes to censorship and they do it on their own.
Keith Achorn

Of course the Internet doesn’t have a switch. It has a blinking red light: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDA1HUmuuJo
Paul Waldron

If “the countries and governments would have to get together and agree and co-ordinate” to do this, THAT would be awesome and the Internet would have achieved a beautiful thing!