Outline of the Internet

From HandWiki
Short description: Overview of and topical guide to the Internet


The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Internet.

Internet – 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 interconnected 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.


Internet features

Internet communication technology

Internet infrastructure

Internet communication protocols

Internet protocol suite –

Link layer

Link layer –

Internet layer

Internet layer –

Transport layer

Transport layer –

Application layer

Application layer –

History of the Internet

History of the Internet
The internet wasn't invented but continually developed by internet pioneers.

  • Predecessors
    • NPL network – a local area computer network operated by a team from the National Physical Laboratory in England that pioneered the concept of packet switching.
    • ARPANET – an early packet switching network and the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP which later became a technical foundation of the Internet.
    • Merit Network – a computer network created in 1966 to connect the mainframe computers at universities that is currently the oldest running regional computer network in the United States.
    • CYCLADES – a French research network created in the early 1970s that pioneered the concept of packet switching, and was developed to explore alternatives to the ARPANET design.
    • Computer Science Network (CSNET) – a computer network created in the United States for computer science departments at academic and research institutions that could not be directly connected to ARPANET, due to funding or authorization limitations. It played a significant role in spreading awareness of, and access to, national networking and was a major milestone on the path to development of the global Internet.
    • National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) –
  • History of Internet components
  • Timeline of Internet conflicts

Internet usage

  • Global Internet usage
  • Internet traffic
  • List of countries by number of Internet users
  • List of European countries by number of Internet users
  • List of sovereign states by number of broadband Internet subscriptions
  • List of sovereign states by number of Internet hosts
  • Languages used on the Internet
  • List of countries by IPv4 address allocation
  • Internet Census of 2012

Internet politics

  • Internet privacy – a subset of data privacy concerning the right to privacy from third parties including corporations and governments on the Internet.
  • Censorship – the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or "inconvenient" as determined by government authorities or by community consensus.
    • Censorship by country – the extent of censorship varies between countries and sometimes includes restrictions to freedom of the Press, freedom of speech, and human rights.
    • Internet censorship – the control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet enacted by regulators or self-censorship.
      • Content control software – a type of software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access.
      • Internet censorship and surveillance by country
      • Internet censorship circumvention – the use of techniques and processes to bypass filtering and censored online materials.
  • Internet law – law governing the Internet, including dissemination of information and software, information security, electronic commerce, intellectual property in computing, privacy, and freedom of expression.

Internet organizations

Main pages: Internet organizations  and Internet governance
  • Domain name registry or Network Information Center (NIC) – a database of all domain names and the associated registrant information in the top level domains of the Domain Name System of the Internet that allow third party entities to request administrative control of a domain name.
    • Private sub-domain registry – an NIC which allocates domain names in a subset of the Domain Name System under a domain registered with an ICANN-accredited or ccTLD registry.
  • Internet Society (ISOC) – an American non-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet-related standards, education, access, and policy.
  • InterNIC (historical) – the organization primarily responsible for Domain Name System (DNS) domain name allocations until 2011 when it was replaced by ICANN.
  • Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – a nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces of the Internet, ensuring the network's stable and secure operation.
  • Internet Activities Board (IAB) –

Non-profit Internet organizations

Commercial Internet organizations

  • Amazon.com –
  • ANS CO+RE (historical) –
  • Google – an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.

Cultural and societal implications of the Internet

  • Sociology – the scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture.
    • Sociology of the Internet – the application of sociological theory and methods to the Internet, including analysis of online communities, virtual worlds, and organizational and social change catalyzed through the Internet.
    • Digital sociology – a sub-discipline of sociology that focuses on understanding the use of digital media as part of everyday life, and how these various technologies contribute to patterns of human behavior, social relationships and concepts of the self.
  • Internet culture
  • List of web awards

Underlying technology

See also

Further reading

  • Yeo, ShinJoung. (2023) Behind the Search Box: Google and the Global Internet Industry (U of Illinois Press, 2023) ISBN 10:0252087127 online



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