EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET
- Internet took birth in late 1960s
- The Department of Defence (DOD) of the US government, laid the framework for the Internet, by creating a network of computers to connect researchers, government workers and defence contractors.
- Earlier different make of computers use to have different rules for communication (protocols). DOD decided to develop an independent protocol, to create a network of computers.
- The new network was named ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency) installed at UCLA in September 1969.
- ARPANET protocol was replaced in 1970s by TCP/IP protocol suite. The features in these protocols permitted transmission of data in an efficient way from any computer connected to the ARPANET to any other on the net. It was the foundation for the Internet as we know today.
WHO OWNS THE INTERNET?
- There are many organizations, corporations, governments, individuals and service providers that own pieces of the Internet infrastructure, but there is no one body that owns it all. Some of these owners can control the quality and level of access of the Internet. However, no one actually owns the Internet, and no single person or organization controls the Internet in its whole.
- There are, however, organizations that oversee and standardize what happens on the Internet and assign IP addresses and domain names, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), Regional Internet Registries (RIR), and Domain Name Registries and Registrars.
- The Internet is more of a concept than an actual tangible entity, and it relies on a physical infrastructure that connects networks to other networks.