Have you ever wondered about who runs the internet? Who controls the internet worldwide? Maybe you could think that the companies who provide internet controls it. But that is not true because if one company stops providing it, there are other companies present. Then you would think that our government controls it, but that isn't true either. Government can only block 2-3 facebook posts or block websites but they can be bypassed easily and this does not amount to control over the internet worldwide. Then, maybe you could think that companies like Google, Facebook, and Youtube control it because they have the largest amount of data but that is not true either because you can build your website on your own, and these companies would not be able to interfere in it. So the question is when you are building a website of your own. So the question is when you are building your website who is providing you the space to create the website on the internet? Is there an authority to tell you which website you can build and which you cannot?. In this article, I would like to tell you all about the internet because the internet is an important tool in maintaining freedom and democracy worldwide.
www.newsbreak.com this is a URL/link "newsbreak" here, is a domain name, and the ".com" is called the top-level domain. If you want to build your website, then you will have to buy your domain name certain websites sell domain names as their job. For example, GoDaddy.com. Now the question is, who gave GoDaddy the authority to sell domain names? There must be someone who gives assent to GoDaddy to sell domain names there is another authority above it the name of the authority is ICAAN. ICCAN is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles it is the top-level authority regarding the internet it has the power to authorize websites like GoDaddy.com to sell domain names. This is the top-level authority that decides upon which domain can exist there could be.com, .in, .info, or .gov all these are decided by ICAAN. So is ICCAN the godfather of the internet? This cannot be said because the internet is a very decentralized network you could consider it to be akin to a net all the mobile phones and computers that are connected to the internet, make up the internet you can call it a "server" your mobile phones and computer are data centers and servers that are connected through wires.
Huge underwater cables have been laid worldwide across continents that connect the computers worldwide to one another which make up the internet. You could say that the companies that lay down cables on land to help the internet reach every home by connecting these wires to the main cable and connect your computers to the internet worldwide hold a huge amount of significant power they are called internet service providers- ISPs. They have significant power because these ISPs can block certain websites in the direction of the government.
Just like how every mobile has a phone number from which you can call another phone, similarly, every device that is connected to the internet has an IP address be it your computer, your smartphone, or be it any other server like a data center if it's connected to the internet, it will have an IP address. Each website to has an IP address when you type a domain name of a website in your browser, then the thing that converts the domain name into an IP address is called Domain name Server- DNS. Sometimes the ISPs block certain websites from the DNS so that when you type the domain name, it is not able to link it to the particular IP address so the DNS of the ISPs blocks you from reaching certain websites.
So let us revert to our original question who controls the internet? To whom does it belong? the right answer to this would be that it does not belong to anybody and belongs to everybody because the internet runs only when it is a decentralized system.
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