Layer 8 is humorous Internet jargon used to refer to a nonexistent "user" or "political" layer on top of the OSI model of computer networking.
The OSI model is a 7-layer abstract model that describes an architecture of data communications for networked computers. The layers build upon each other, allowing for abstraction of specific functions in each one. The top (7th) layer is the Application Layer describing methods and protocols of software applications. It is then held that the user is the 8th layer.
According to Bruce Schneier and RSA:
- Layer 8: The individual person.
- Layer 9: The organization.
- Layer 10: Government or legal compliance
Since the OSI layer numbers are commonly used to discuss networking topics, a troubleshooter may describe an issue caused by a user to be a layer 8 issue, similar to the PEBKAC acronym, the ID-Ten-T Error and also PICNIC.
Political economic theory holds that the 8th layer is important to understanding the OSI Model. Political policies such as network neutrality, spectrum management, and digital inclusion all shape the technologies comprising layers 1-7 of the OSI Model.
An 8th layer has also been referenced to physical (real-world) controllers containing an external hardware device which interacts with an OSI model network. An example of this is ALI in Profibus.
A network guru t-shirt from the 1980s shows Layer 8 as the "financial" layer, and Layer 9 as the "political" layer.
Read more about Layer 8: Similar Pseudo-layers in The TCP/IP Model, Other Uses
Famous quotes containing the word layer:
“A revolution is not the overturning of a cart, a reshuffling in the cards of state. It is a process, a swelling, a new growth in the race. If it is real, not simply a trauma, it is another ring in the tree of history, layer upon layer of invisible tissue composing the evidence of a circle.”
—Kate Millett (b. 1934)