Internet packet carried by pigeon in 2001 heads to auction
A surviving internet packet from a 2001 experiment using carrier pigeons is being auctioned at Christie’s, with bidding already at $4,000. The unusual artefact highlights the internet community’s tradition of playful technical experiments and gives a tangible afterlife to a packet that once travelled outside conventional networks.
The Bergen Linux User Group tested a 1990 April Fools’ proposal to send IP datagrams by bird, printing packets as hexadecimal strips and attaching them to racing pigeons. The birds flew between lofts 5km apart: nine packets were sent, but only four replies returned, a loss rate of about 56 per cent. The framed paper scroll measures 41mm by 210mm, was presented to proposal author David Waitzman in 2002, and the auction closes on 13 October.
- A pigeon-carried internet packet has drawn a $4,000 bid.
- The 2001 test sent packets between lofts 5km apart.
- Only four of nine packets returned.
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In 2001, computer enthusiasts in Bergen conducted an unusual experiment: sending internet data via carrier pigeons. They printed packets of data as hexadecimal code on paper strips, attached them to pigeons, and had the birds fly between two locations 5km apart. The experiment was inspired by a joke proposal that had circulated in computing circles a decade earlier.
The test was not particularly successful: of nine packets sent, only four replies returned, representing a loss rate of about 56 per cent. Nevertheless, the experiment became well-regarded within the technology community as a creative example of unconventional thinking during the early internet era.
One surviving packet was mounted as a framed paper scroll and presented to David Waitzman, who had originally proposed the idea back in 1990. This physical artefact has become a collector's item, representing both an early computing experiment and the tradition of playful technical innovation that characterised internet development.
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Originally published by The Register as “Pigeon-powered internet packet goes under the hammer at Christie’s”.