The Internet

The Internet is a global system
of interconnected computer
networks that use the standard
Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to
serve billions of users
worldwide. It is a network of
networks that consists of
millions of private, public,
academic, business, and
government networks, of local to
global scope, that are linked by a
broad array of electronic,
wireless and optical networking
technologies. The Internet carries
a vast range of information
resources and services, such as
the inter-linked hypertext
documents of the World Wide
Web (WWW) and the
infrastructure to support
electronic mail.
The Internet started in
the 1960's under the original
name "ARPAnet". ARPAnet was
originally an experiment in how
the US military could maintain
communications in case of a
possible nuclear strike. With time,
ARPAnet became a civilian
experiment, connecting
university mainframe computers
for academic purposes. As
personal computers became
more mainstream in the 1980's
and 1990's, the Internet grew
exponentially as more users
plugged their computers into the
massive network. Today, the
Internet has grown into a public
spiderweb of millions of
personal, government, and
commercial computers, all
connected by cables and by
wireless signals.
No single person owns the
Internet. No single government
has authority over its
operations. Some technical rules
and hardware/software
standards enforce how people
plug into the Internet, but for the
most part, the Internet is a free
and open broadcast medium of
hardware networking.
Most traditional communications
media including telephone,
music, film, and television are
reshaped or redefined by the
Internet, giving birth to new
services such as Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) and IPTV.
Newspaper, book and other print
publishing are adapting to Web
site technology, or are reshaped
into blogging and web feeds.
The Internet has enabled or
accelerated new forms of human
interactions through instant
messaging, Internet forums, and
social networking. Online
shopping has boomed both for
major retail outlets and small
artisans and traders. Business-to-
business and financial services
on the Internet affect supply
chains across entire industries.