°°••....••°°..••°°°°••..°°••....••°°..••°°°°••..°°••....••°°

Sounds of the Internet Protocol

°°••....••°°..••°°°°••..°°••....••°°..••°°°°••..°°••....••°°


the Internet Protocol is a set of rules for machines to move data packets between each other

postal codes, apartment numbers, doorbells for traffic signals

nets become inter-nets

where is your mail box on the world wide web?






fill in the following boxes with each byte of your ip address


the first byte of your ip address

the second byte of your ip address

the third byte of your ip address

the fourth byte of your ip address

this is how your ip address might sound like



volume

this is another way your ip address might sound like



volume

this is a third way your ip address might sound like



volume

perhaps an ip address could be made to sound like anything

it is, after all, simply four bytes of numbers

readily manipulated, added, subtracted, divided, multiplied, parsed, packed, formatted, broken down, generated and regenerated, ordered and randomized

but perhaps the seeming abstractness of these numbers belies their deeply politicized specificities, their concrete entanglements in power and resource inequalities, and their ambiguous role in perpetuating hegenomic control and jargonized governmentality

consider, for example, ip address blocks assigned to the U.S. Department of Defense


6.0.0.0 - 6.255.255.255

7.0.0.0 - 7.255.255.255

11.0.0.0 - 11.255.255.255

21.0.0.0 - 21.255.255.255

22.0.0.0 - 22.255.255.255

26.0.0.0 -26.255.255.255

28.0.0.0 -28.255.255.255

29.0.0.0 - 29.255.255.255

30.0.0.0 - 20.255.255.255

33.0.0.0 - 33.255.255.255

55.0.0.0 - 55.255.255.255

205.0.0.0 - 205.255.255.255

214.0.0.0 - 214.255.255.255

215.0.0.0 - 215.255.255.255



each one of these blocks represent over 16 million unique IP addresses. the U.S. Millitary owns 14 of these 16-million address blocks.
that is more than all the IP address blocks assigned to Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre, the regional internet registry for Latin America and Caribbean regions.

Apple, AT&T, Ford Motor, Mercedes-Benz, Prudential Securities, among other corporations, also own an entire 16-million address block.


AT&T: 12.0.0.0 - 12.255.255.255

APPLE: 13.0.0.0 - 13.255.255.255

FORD MOTOR: 19.0.0.0 - 19.255.255.255

MERCEDES: 53.0.0.0 - 53.255.255.255

PRUDENTIAL: 48.0.0.0 - 48.255.255.255

try putting these numbers into the top of the page, and listen to what sounds they might generate.

what are the sounds of these troubled histories? how do we listen and attune to their rumblings and rustlings?

how do we listen and attune to their rumblings and rustlings?