Internet Numbers Station
This station is backed by a true random number generator provided by Arbitrand. Once per second, we use the random number generator to generate random bits from quantum noise, and then turn 8 bytes of entropy into a digit between 0 and 9. In keeping with the history of numbers stations, we use these digits and a text-to-speech synthesizer to generate the stream of random numbers. Digits are transmitted timestamped, and everyone listening is hearing the same stream.
Despite the possibility, there are no coded messages in the stream, just random digits. We generate digits ten seconds ahead of time, to account for some variability between our clocks. In a sense, this stream is a form of public randomness.
Numbers stations are a cold-war era technology that was used to hide coded messages. A shortwave radio station would broadcast random numbers on a set schedule, sometimes 24/7, with a fixed time interval between each number.
