An association of computer networks with common standards which enable messages to be sent from any host on one network to any host on any other. It developed in the 1970s in the USA as an experimental network designed to support military research, and steadily grew to include federal, regional, campus, and other users. Growth has been particularly rapid since 1990. It is now the world's largest computer network, with around 400 million hosts connected in 2006, providing an increasing range of services and enabling unprecedented numbers of people to be in touch with each other through electronic mail, discussion groups, and the provision of digital pages on every conceivable topic. The World Wide Web is an Internet facility designed for multimedia use, in which individuals or organizations make available pages of information to other users anywhere in the world, generally at no cost, but in the case of certain commercial operations (such as an encyclopedia or electronic journal) through subscription. Functional information, such as electronic shopping, business data, advertisements, and bulletins, can be found alongside creative works, such as novels, poems, and scripts, with the availability of movies, TV programmes, and other kinds of entertainment being actively progressed. Some commentators have likened the Internet to an amalgam of television, telephone, and conventional publishing, and the term cyberspace has been coined to capture the notion of a world of information present or possible in digital form (the information superhighway). During the 1990s, alongside claims that the Internet provides fresh opportunities for self-publishing, creativity, and freedom of speech, there was increasing concern about the safeguarding of rights of privacy and intellectual property (copyright), the application of existing laws to the Internet (in such domains as pornography and libel), the extent to which the content of some of the new virtual communities can or should be regulated, and the impact that the growing numbers of Internet communities (cyburbia) will have on individuals and on society as a whole. The potential of the Internet is also currently limited by relatively slow data-transmission speeds, and by the problems of information management and retrieval posed by the existence of such a vast amount of information.
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The Internet is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.
The Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous: the Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks, linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, etc.; The World Wide Web is accessible via the Internet, as are many other services including e-mail, file sharing, and others described below.
Creation of the Internet
The Internet is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.
Licklider recruited Lawrence Roberts to head a project to implement a network, and Roberts based the technology on the work of Paul Baran who had written an exhaustive study for the U.S. Air Force that recommended packet switching (as opposed to Circuit switching) to make a network highly robust and survivable. After much work, the first node went live at UCLA on October 29, 1969 on what would be called the ARPANET, one of the "eve" networks of today's Internet.
The first TCP/IP wide area network was operational by 1 January 1983, when the United States' National Science Foundation (NSF) constructed a university network backbone that would later become the NSFNet. Use of the term "Internet" to describe a single global TCP/IP network originated around this time.
The network gained a public face in the 1990s. In 1993 the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign released version 1.0 of Mosaic and by late 1994 there was growing public interest in the previously academic/technical Internet. By 1996 the word "Internet" was coming into common daily usage, frequently misused to refer to the World Wide Web.
Meanwhile, over the course of the decade, the Internet successfully accommodated the majority of previously existing public computer networks (although some networks such as FidoNet have remained separate). This growth is often attributed to the lack of central administration, which allows organic growth of the network, as well as the non-proprietary open nature of the Internet protocols, which encourages vendor interoperability and prevents any one company from exerting too much control over the network.
Today's Internet
Aside from the complex physical connections that make up its infrastructure, the Internet is facilitated by bi- or multi-lateral commercial contracts (e.g., peering agreements), and by technical specifications or protocols that describe how to exchange data over the network. Indeed, the Internet is essentially defined by its interconnections and routing policies.
As of September 18, 2006, over 1.09 billion people use the Internet according to Internet World Stats.
Internet protocols
In this context, there are three layers of protocols:
At the lowest level is IP (Internet Protocol), which defines the datagrams or packets that carry blocks of data from one node to another. The vast majority of today's Internet uses version four of the IP protocol (i.e.Internet structure
There have been many analyses of the Internet and its structure. For example, it has been determined that the Internet IP routing structure and hypertext links of the World Wide Web are examples of scale-free networks.
Similar to the way the commercial Internet providers connect via Internet exchange points, research networks tend to interconnect into large subnetworks such as:
GEANT GLORIAD Internet2 JANET (the UK's Joint Academic Network aka UKERNA)These in turn are built around relatively smaller networks. See also the list of academic computer network organizations
In network schematic diagrams, the Internet is often represented by a cloud symbol, into and out of which network communications can pass.
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the authority that coordinates the assignment of unique identifiers on the Internet, including domain names, Internet protocol addresses, and protocol port and parameter numbers. A globally unified namespace (i.e., a system of names in which there is one and only one holder of each name) is essential for the Internet to function. ICANN is headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, but is overseen by an international board of directors drawn from across the Internet technical, business, academic, and non-commercial communities. Because the Internet is a distributed network comprising many voluntarily interconnected networks, the Internet, as such, has no governing body. ICANN's role in coordinating the assignment of unique identifiers distinguishes it as perhaps the only central coordinating body on the global Internet, but the scope of its authority extends only to the Internet's systems of domain names, Internet protocol addresses, and protocol port and parameter numbers.
On Nov. 16, 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society, held in Tunis, established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to discuss Internet-related issues.
The World Wide Web
Through keyword-driven Internet research using search engines, like Google, millions worldwide have easy, instant access to a vast and diverse amount of online information.
For more information on the distinction between the World Wide Web and the Internet itself — as in everyday use the two are sometimes confused — see Dark internet where this is discussed in more detail.
Remote access
The Internet allows computer users to connect to other computers and information stores easily, wherever they may be across the world. Some of these things were possible before the widespread use of the Internet, but the cost of private, leased lines would have made many of them infeasible in practice.
An office worker away from his desk, perhaps the other side of the world on a business trip or a holiday, can open a remote desktop session into his normal office PC using a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection via the Internet.
This concept is also referred to by some network security people as the Virtual Private Nightmare, because it extends the secure perimeter of a corporate network into its employees' homes;
Satellite Internet
Satellite Internet accessCollaboration
See also: Collaborative softwareThe low-cost and nearly instantaneous sharing of ideas, knowledge, and skills has made collaborative work dramatically easier. Not only can a group cheaply communicate and test, but the wide reach of the Internet allows such groups to easily form in the first place, even among niche interests.
File sharing
A computer file can be e-mailed to customers, colleagues and friends as an attachment. the transit of the file over the Internet may be obscured by encryption and money may change hands before or after access to the file is given. The price can be paid by the remote charging of funds from, for example a credit card whose details are also passed - hopefully fully encrypted - across the Internet.
These simple features of the Internet, over a world-wide basis, are changing the basis for the production, sale, and distribution of anything that can be reduced to a computer file for transmission.
Streaming media
Many existing radio and television broadcasters provide Internet 'feeds' of their live audio and video streams (for example, the BBC). These providers have been joined by a range of pure Internet 'broadcasters' who never had on-air licences. Internet users can watch animals around an African waterhole, ships in the Panama Canal, the traffic at a local roundabout or their own premises, live and in real time.
VoIP
VoIP stands for Voice over IP, where IP refers to the Internet Protocol that underlies all Internet communication. The benefit is that, as the Internet carries the actual voice traffic, VoIP can be free or cost much less than a normal telephone call, especially over long distances and especially for those with always-on ADSL or DSL Internet connections.
VoIP has also become increasingly popular within the gaming world, as a form of communication between players.
Language
The most prevalent language for communication on the Internet is English. This may be a result of the Internet's origins, as well as English's role as the lingua franca.
After English (30% of Web visitors) the most-requested languages on the World Wide Web are Chinese 14%, Japanese 8%, Spanish 8%, German 6%, and French 4% (from Internet World Stats, updated June 30, 2006).
By continent, 37% of the world's Internet users are based in Asia, 28% in Europe, and 22% in North America ( updated June 30, 2006).
The Internet's technologies have developed enough in recent years that good facilities are available for development and communication in most widely used languages.
Internet and the workplace
The Internet is allowing greater flexibility in working hours and location, especially with the spread of unmetered high-speed connections and Web applications.
The Internet has given employees a forum from which to voice their opinions about their jobs, employers and co-workers, creating a massive amount of information and data on work that is currently being collected by the Worklifewizard.org project run by Harvard Law School's Labor &
Censorship
Some governments, such as those of Iran and the People's Republic of China restrict what people in their countries can access on the Internet, especially political and religious content.
There are many free and commercially available software programs with which a user can choose to block offensive Web sites on individual computers or networks, such as to limit a child's access to pornography or violence.
Internet access
Wikibooks has more about this subject: Online linux connectCommon methods of home access include dial-up, landline broadband (over coaxial cable, fibre optic or copper wires), Wi-Fi, satellite and cell phones.
Public places to use the Internet include libraries and Internet cafes, where computers with Internet connections are available. There are also Internet access points in many public places such as airport halls and coffee shops, in some cases just for brief use while standing. Various terms are used, such as "public Internet kiosk", "public access terminal", and "Web payphone".
Wi-Fi provides wireless access to computer networks, and therefore can do so to the Internet itself. The Internet can then be accessed from such places as a park bench.
Apart from Wi-Fi, there have been experiments with proprietary mobile wireless networks like Ricochet, various high-speed data services over cellular phone networks, and fixed wireless services.
High-end mobile phones such as smartphones generally come with Internet access through the phone network. Web browsers such as Opera are available on these advanced handsets, which can also run a wide variety of other Internet software. More mobile phones have Internet access than PCs, though this is not as widely used. An internet access provider and protocol matrix differentiates the methods used to get online.
Leisure
The Internet has been a major source of leisure since before the World Wide Web, with entertaining social experiments such as MUDs and MOOs being conducted on university servers, and humor-related Usenet groups receiving much of the main traffic. Today, many Internet forums have sections devoted to games and funny videos;
The pornography and gambling industries have both taken full advantage of the World Wide Web, and often provide a significant source of advertising revenue for other Web sites. Although many governments have attempted to put restrictions on both industries' use of the Internet, this has generally failed to stop their widespread popularity. A song in the Broadway musical show Avenue Q is titled "The Internet is for Porn" and refers to the popularity of this aspect of the internet.
One main area of leisure on the Internet is multiplayer gaming. This has revolutionized the way many people interact and spend their free time on the Internet.
Many use the Internet to access and download music, movies and other works for their enjoyment and relaxation.
Many use the World Wide Web to access news, weather and sports reports, to plan and book holidays and to find out more about their random ideas and casual interests.
Complex architecture
Many computer scientists see the Internet as a "prime example of a large-scale, highly engineered, yet highly complex system". The Internet is extremely heterogeneous. (For instance, data transfer rates and physical characteristics of connections vary widely.) The Internet exhibits "emergent phenomena" that depend on its large-scale organization.
Marketing
The Internet has also become a large market for companies; some of the biggest companies today have grown by taking advantage of the efficient nature of low-cost advertising and commerce through the Internet; The Internet has also subsequently revolutionized shopping—for example; The Internet has also greatly facilitated personalized marketing which allows a company to market a product to a specific person or a specific group of people more so than any other advertising medium.
Examples of personalized marketing include online communities such as Myspace, Friendster, and others which thousands of Internet users join to advertise themselves and make friends online.
A very ineffective way of advertising on the internet is through spamming an email with advertisements.
The name Internet
Internet is traditionally written with a capital first letter, as it is a proper noun. The Internet Society, the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the World Wide Web Consortium, and several other Internet-related organizations use this convention in their publications.
Historically, Internet and internet have had different meanings, with internet being a contraction of internetwork or internetworking and Internet referring to the worldwide network. Under this distinction, the Internet is a particular internet, but the reverse does not apply. The distinction was evident in many RFCs, books, and articles from the 1980s and early 1990s (some of which, such as RFC 1918, refer to "internets" in the plural), but has recently fallen into disuse.
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