Internet History in Culpeper

On my Mom's side, our Read and Whitley/Wheatley ancestors date back to the early 1700s in Culpeper County (and earlier when the land was part of Orange and Spotsylvania Counties), Virginia. The Reads lived in the Culpeper area for over 200 years. On my Jones side of the family, our Thornhill ancestors also lived in the Culpeper area from the mid 1700s before departing for Jefferson County, Tennessee. My Read line left nearby Fauquier County in 1847 for Barren County, Kentucky. The Whitley line departed earlier from Virginia for the same area in Kentucky, neighboring Warren County.

200 years later, I travel to Culpeper on a periodic basis for work, so this provides a rare confluence for my Internet life with my family history.

In June 2010, the first key ceremony for Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) for the root zone was conducted outside Culpeper, Virginia. I now have my signature on the first KSK for the root zone that was generated from that ceremony, along side many Internet pioneers (my scribble appears just above the Washington DC address in the bottom middle of the page). I consider it an honor and I've been very fortunate to be able to work with these experts & play a small role in helping the Internet's system of unique identifiers become more secure for everyone.

We'll do the ceremony once again on Tuesday, with live streaming. See http://dns.icann.org/ksk/upcoming-ceremonies/ceremony-9/. For a short 6 minute video on the KSK Ceremony from 16 June 2010, see above.