Unsung heroes save net from chaos 无名英雄保网络正常
文章来源:未知 文章作者:meng 发布时间:2009-07-23 05:49 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

Crack teams of volunteers keep the net online and functioning, according to leading internet lawyer Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard University.

哈佛大学首席互联网律师Jonathan Zittrain称,一组无名志愿者保证网络的在线和运转。

The same social structures that drive Wikipedia also keep the net healthy
The same social structures that drive Wikipedia also keep the net healthy

The way data is divided up and sent around the internet in many jumps makes it "delicate(微妙的,纤细的) and vulnerable" to attacks or mistakes, he said.

However, he added, the "random1 acts of kindness" of these unsung(未赞颂的) heroes quietly keep the net in working order.

Professor Zittrain's comments came at the TED2 Global conference in Oxford3.

Incidents such as when the Pakistan government took YouTube offline in 2008 exposed the web's underlying4 fragility(脆弱,虚弱), he explained.

But a team of volunteers - unpaid5, unauthorised and largely unknown to most people - rolled into action and restored the service within hours.

"It's like when the Bat signal goes up and Batman answers the call," Professor Zittrain told BBC News.

Blind faith

The fragility of the internet's architecture was largely due to its origins, said Professor Zittrain.

He said it had been conceived with "one great limitation and with one great freedom".

"Their limitation was that they didn't have any money," he told the TED audience in Oxford.

"But they had an amazing freedom, which was that they didn't have to make any money from it.

"The internet has no business plan - never did - no CEO, no single firm responsible for building it. Instead it's folks getting together to do something for fun, rather than because they were told to or because they were expecting to make money from it," he said.

That ethos(民族精神,大气), he suggested, had led to a network architecture that was completely unique.

"As late as 1992, IBM was known to say that you couldn't build a corporate7 network using internet protocol8(草案,协议)."

Internet protocol (IP), the method used to send data around the internet, was first described by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn in 1974. Data is broken into chunks9 - or packets - and sent around different parts of the network, often owned by different corporations and entities10.

Professor Zittrain likened it to how a drink may be passed along a row of people at a sporting(喜好运动的,冒险性的) event.

"Your neighbourly duty is to pass the beer along - at risk to your own trousers - to get it to its destination."

"That's precisely11 how packets move around the internet, sometimes in a many as 25 or 30 hops12 with the intervening entities(存在,实体) passing the data around having no contractual or legal obligation to the original sender or to the receiver."

The route the data takes depends on the net's addressing system, he said.

"It turns out there is no overall map of the internet. It is as if we are all sat together in a theatre but we can only see in the fog the people around us.

"So what do we do to figure out what is around us. We turn to the person on our right and tell them what we can see to the left and vice6 versa(反过来也一样).

This method, he said, gives network operators a general sense of "what is where".

"This is a system that relies on kindness and trust, which also makes it very delicate and vulnerable," he said.

"In rare but striking instances, a lie told by a single entity13 within this honeycomb can lead to real trouble."



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 random HT9xd     
adj.随机的;任意的;n.偶然的(或随便的)行动
参考例句:
  • The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
  • On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查,发现肉变质了。
2 ted 9gazhs     
vt.翻晒,撒,撒开
参考例句:
  • The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
  • She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。
3 Oxford Wmmz0a     
n.牛津(英国城市)
参考例句:
  • At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
  • This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。
4 underlying 5fyz8c     
adj.在下面的,含蓄的,潜在的
参考例句:
  • The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
  • This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。
5 unpaid fjEwu     
adj.未付款的,无报酬的
参考例句:
  • Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
  • He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。
6 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
7 corporate 7olzl     
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
参考例句:
  • This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
  • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
8 protocol nRQxG     
n.议定书,草约,会谈记录,外交礼节
参考例句:
  • We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
  • The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。
9 chunks a0e6aa3f5109dc15b489f628b2f01028     
厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 ); (某物)相当大的数量或部分
参考例句:
  • a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
  • Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大,还能再切小一点吗?
10 entities 07214c6750d983a32e0a33da225c4efd     
实体对像; 实体,独立存在体,实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
  • The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。
11 precisely zlWzUb     
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
参考例句:
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
12 hops a6b9236bf6c7a3dfafdbc0709208acc0     
跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 ); 单足蹦跳; 齐足(或双足)跳行; 摘葎草花
参考例句:
  • The sparrow crossed the lawn in a series of hops. 那麻雀一蹦一跳地穿过草坪。
  • It is brewed from malt and hops. 它用麦精和蛇麻草酿成。
13 entity vo8xl     
n.实体,独立存在体,实际存在物
参考例句:
  • The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
  • As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体,公司必须纳税。
TAG标签: internet hero chaos
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