Would the web still be up if there was no people around?

[Evil Personified]

Anybody know??? Im trying to write up a story an this came to mind...

[AcesandEights]

I'd imagine it would stay up for a while in a piecemeal fashion, as the various grids went down less and less people would be able to view the web and less and less servers would be online to cycle content, but I--admittedly--know jack sh*t about the www. PS--again, a lot will depend on whether you're doing a fast fall of humanity, or a slow burn sort of event, where some services would still, ostensibly, be available in some areas while the pandemic geared up.

[panic]

From the title I thought you were asking a more Zen question...

[prettycorpses]

Yeh it would as it was around before Joe Public could use it...it was used in Companys apparantly......ok my hubby told me that so if Im wrong its his fault but if its right then WOO HOO ME!!

[Eyebiter]

The internet was originally designed to be a communications network that would survive a nuclear war. As major cities would be destroyed by Soviet bombs, internet traffic would find a different route to it's destination. The net would change as the zombie crisis goes on. On the first day it would be heavy traffic. Recall on 9/11 when many US news websites were unavailable? Same idea, everyone would try to find out what's going one. As information about the plague starts to be distributed, net traffic would begin to be disrupted. Power outages, server crashes, cuts in fiber optic cables would all remain unrepaired. There would be small islands (near a nuclear reactor, military bases, corporate HQ, rescue stations) that would keep their power intact for a while after the power grid starts to fluctuate. Assuming a worldwide zombie plague within a week many civilian internet links would be broken. Secure military communications would continute for a longer period, depending on the scope of the crisis.

[Deadman_Deluxe]

If you have power and know how to maintain your own server ... cool. If you are on a monthly AOL deal or some crap like that ... forget it Don't believe everything you read : http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mzombiepower.html

[hadrian0117]

According to[Cecil the power would only last anywhere from a few hours to days to possibly weeks depending on what kind of zombie plague we're dealing with and if grid operators are able to keep power stations manned and isolate parts of the grid. The telecommunications system would probally be in a similiar bind.

[Zombie Dollie]

Like Panic, I thought this was more of a Zen question. Something to make us question our tiny lives and how most of us can't really stay sane without our daily visit to the web. Ahhhhaaaaaaaa. But more on the topic; If this is a zombie type story occurance thing etc.... Eyebiter has the best response, and I'm not about to type out something else because it's all just what they said only reworded haha.

[Danny]

If you have power and know how to maintain your own server ... cool. If you are on a monthly AOL deal or some crap like that ... forget it blast, foiled again, now how could i find porn after the zombies move in, im 18 now im not supposed to look for it near railways anymore,lol.

[Deadman_Deluxe]

blast, foiled again, now how could i find porn after the zombies move in, im 18 now im not supposed to look for it near railways anymore,lol. Just raid your dead neighbours houses and search out their stash of DVD porn ... as we all know ... EVERY fully functioning home has a porn stash

[Philly_SWAT]

Assuming a worldwide zombie plague within a week many civilian internet links would be broken. Secure military communications would continute for a longer period, depending on the scope of the crisis. I believe that in theory, the net would be operational as long as power continued to be uninterrupted. I dont think that within a week there would be any problem with power. Unless power plants were purposely shut down by the living (and I dont know why they would) I would think the power would stay on for a long time. Therefore, so would the web. Of course, as the living continued to die off, the sites would not be updated......

[Danny]

why not put a load of zombies in giant hamster wheels to generate power.

[Eyebiter]

Here is a good article on the subject from 2004 When the zombies take over, how long till the electricity fails? http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mzombiepower.html "Bottom line? My guess is that within 4-6 hours there would be scattered blackouts and brownouts in numerous areas, within 12 hours much of the system would be unstable, and within 24 hours most portions of the United States and Canada, aside from a rare island of service in a rural area near a hydroelectric source, would be without power. Some installations served by wind farms and solar might continue, but they would be very small. By the end of a week, I'd be surprised if more than a few abandoned sites were still supplying power."

[OddDNA]

The Straight Dope is the best column in the paper.

[general tbag]

reguardless of power it the billing systems you have to worry about with i.s.p s. all the i.s.p i have worked for always have a set time for payment before the device aka modem is automatically de- provisioned. even on backbones and most bandwidth contracted out , unless a device or unit is provisioned , it not gonna work. also if the dns servers go down that pretty much it for the internet. it just a system upon a system upon a system. as someone pointed out, the internet wouldnt work depending on regions. that why the army and cable companies use satellites to cut down the hops.