Fictitious Internet resource

Fictitious Internet resources are websites, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, or other facilities that are purported to be associated with the Internet and are used in works of fiction or popular culture, such as movies and television shows. This is also known as 'logging on to the fourth wall'.

IP addresses

When IP addresses are called for in a script, some TV shows, like 24, will use addresses containing components in the quad-dotted notation that are larger than 255, which is not possible since the components are only 8 bits large. The movie Swordfish uses an IP address in 293.0.0.0 in a scene, and the comic strip Narbonic referenced the fictitious IP address 132.513.151.319. However, in Antitrust, several addresses in the 10.0.0.0/8 range are shown; these are valid RFC 1918 private network addresses, but their use is not possible on the public Internet. The CSI series uses addresses in the 5.0.0.0/8 block, which until November 2010 was reserved by IANA, and since December 2010 has been assigned to RIPE.

Two RFCs (Request For Comments) describe the use of Address Blocks Reserved for Documentation for IPv4 and IPv6.

Three IPv4 blocks are provided for use in documentation:

• 192.0.2.0/24 (TEST-NET-1)
• 198.51.100.0/24 (TEST-NET-2)
• 203.0.113.0/24 (TEST-NET-3)

The IPv6 address prefix 2001:DB8::/32 as a reserved prefix for use in documentation.

See also

• 555 (telephone number)
• Fictitious telephone number
• example.com