Outline of the Internet explained
See also: Index of Internet-related articles and Outline of search engines.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Internet.
The Internet is a 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
See main article: History of the Internet.
- Networks prior to the Internet
- NPL network - a local area computer network operated by a team from the National Physical Laboratory in England, the first to implement packet switching, the design of which influenced other networks that followed.
- ARPANET - the first wide-area packet switching network, developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the United States, and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite which later became a technical foundation of the Internet.
- SATNET - an early satellite packet-switched network, also developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which implemented TCP/IP before the ARPANET.
- 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 internetworking by making the hosts responsible for the reliable delivery of data on a packet-switched network, rather than this being a service of the network itself.
- 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) - an American networking project, initially created to link researchers to the NSF-funded supercomputing centers that, through further public funding and private industry partnerships, developed into a major part of the early Internet backbone.
- History of Internet components
- List of Internet pioneers
- Timeline of Internet conflicts
Internet usage
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.
- 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
See main article: 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
By region
By country
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
