Internet from FOLDOC

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>Internet from FOLDOC</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'unsafe-inline' http: https:"> <meta name="verify-v1" content="siAI0ZOMn41hao0E/T76D1I2L3MtFjzE48P3ctCjRNU="> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#da532c"> <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"> <meta name="google-translate-customization" content="828219db36930e1e-c51d915bf2ea717c-g9b503f9a85d5b5a7-a">  <script src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-9715943-1"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'UA-9715943-1'); </script>  <link href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Duru+Sans%7CBelgrano%7CInconsolata%7CAlef%7CArmata" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/layout.css?2">  <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="/im/apple-touch-icon.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/im/favicon-32x32.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/im/favicon-16x16.png"> <link rel="manifest" href="/im/site.webmanifest"> <link rel="mask-icon" href="/im/safari-pinned-tab.svg" color="#5bbad5"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://foldoc.org/Internet"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="FOLDOC" href="/rss.xml"> <link rel="search" title="FOLDOC" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="//foldoc.org/search.xml">  <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5521724329338202" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>  </head> <body> <div id="fb-root"></div> <script> (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); </script> <div id="container"> <div id="left"> <a href="/"> <img src="/foldoc.gif" width="300" height="98" alt="Free On-line Dictionary of Computing" class="logo"> </a> <div id="nav"> <a href="/contents.html" class="button">Contents</a> <a href="/help.html" class="button">Help</a> <a href="/random-entry" class="button">Random</a> </div> <form action="/"> <input type="text" name="query" id="query" autofocus="autofocus"> <input type="submit" name="action" value="Search" class="button"> </form> <div id="content"> <h2>Internet</h2> <p></p> <p><<i><a href="contents/networking.html">networking</a></i>></p> <p> <p></p> 1. With a lower-case "i", any set of <a href="/networks">networks</a> interconnected with <a href="/routers">routers</a>. <p></p> 2. With an upper-case "I", the world's collection of interconnected networks. The Internet is a three-level <a href="/hierarchy">hierarchy</a> composed of <a href="/backbone+networks">backbone networks</a>, <a href="/mid-level+networks">mid-level networks</a>, and <a href="/stub+networks">stub networks</a>. These include commercial (.com or .co), university (.ac or .edu) and other research networks (.org, .net) and military (.mil) networks and span many different physical networks around the world with various <a href="/protocols">protocols</a>, chiefly the <a href="/Internet+Protocol">Internet Protocol</a>. <p></p> Until the advent of the <a href="/web">web</a> in 1990, the Internet was almost entirely unknown outside universities and corporate research departments and was accessed mostly via <a href="/command+line">command line</a> interfaces such as <a href="/telnet">telnet</a> and <a href="/FTP">FTP</a>. Since then it has grown to become a ubiquitous aspect of modern information systems, becoming highly commercial and a widely accepted medium for all sort of customer relations such as advertising, brand building and online sales and services. Its original spirit of cooperation and freedom have, to a great extent, survived this explosive transformation with the result that the vast majority of information available on the Internet is free of charge. <p></p> While the web (primarily in the form of <a href="/HTML">HTML</a> and <a href="/HTTP">HTTP</a>) is the best known aspect of the Internet, there are many other <a href="/protocols">protocols</a> in use, supporting applications such as <a href="/electronic+mail">electronic mail</a>, <a href="/chat">chat</a>, <a href="/remote+login">remote login</a> and <a href="/file+transfer">file transfer</a>. <p></p> There were 20,242 unique commercial domains registered with <a href="/InterNIC">InterNIC</a> in September 1994, 10% more than in August 1994. In 1996 there were over 100 <a href="/Internet+access+providers">Internet access providers</a> in the US and a few in the UK (e.g. the <a href="/BBC+Networking+Club">BBC Networking Club</a>, <a href="/Demon">Demon</a>, <a href="/PIPEX">PIPEX</a>). <p></p> There are several bodies associated with the running of the Internet, including the <a href="/Internet+Architecture+Board">Internet Architecture Board</a>, the <a href="/Internet+Assigned+Numbers+Authority">Internet Assigned Numbers Authority</a>, the <a href="/Internet+Engineering+and+Planning+Group">Internet Engineering and Planning Group</a>, <a href="/Internet+Engineering+Steering+Group">Internet Engineering Steering Group</a>, and the <a href="/Internet+Society">Internet Society</a>. <p></p> See also <a href="/NYsernet">NYsernet</a>, <a href="/EUNet">EUNet</a>. <p></p> <em><a href="http://openmarket.com/intindex">The Internet Index</a></em> - statistics about the Internet. <p></p> <p class="updated">Last updated: <a href="/new.html">2015-03-26</a></p> <p></p> <p class="vertical-space"></p><h3>Nearby terms:</h3> <p class="neighbours"> <a href="/Internaut">Internaut</a> &diams; <b><a href="/Internet">Internet</a></b> &diams; <a href="/Internet+Access+Provider">Internet Access Provider</a> &diams; <a href="/Internet+Adapter">Internet Adapter</a> </p> <p> Try this search on <a href="https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Internet">Wikipedia</a>, <a href="https://www.wiktionary.org/wiki/Internet">Wiktionary</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=define:Internet">Google</a>, <a href="https://www.onelook.com/?w=Internet">OneLook</a>. </p> <p class="vertical-space"></p> <hr> <div></div> <hr>  <div id="HCB_comment_box">Loading</div> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="//www.htmlcommentbox.com/static/skins/bootstrap/twitter-bootstrap.css?v=0"> <script language="javascript" id="hcb"> hcb_user = { PAGE: 'https://foldoc.org/Internet', comments_header: ' ', no_comments_msg: ' ', err_comment_empty: 'Your comment was not posted because it was empty!', rss: '', }; var s = document.createElement("script"); s.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); s.setAttribute("src", "//www.htmlcommentbox.com/jread?page=" + escape(hcb_user.PAGE).replace(/\+/g, "%2B") + "&mod=%241%24wq1rdBcg%24.0y2uzvjA2bsnhzpXVq9F." + "&opts=17374&num=10"); // No e-mail field: 16846 if (typeof s != "undefined") document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(s); </script> <script> setTimeout(function () { document.getElementById('hcb_form_content').rows = 1 }, 1000); </script> <hr>  </div>  </div>  <div id="right"> <div id="google_translate_element"> <script> function googleTranslateElementInit() { new google.translate.TranslateElement({ pageLanguage: 'en' }, 'google_translate_element'); } </script> <script src="https://translate.google.com/translate_a/element.js?cb=googleTranslateElementInit"></script> </div> <p><br></p> <hr> <div id="social"> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://foldoc.org/" data-layout="button_count" data-action="like" data-show-faces="false" data-share="true"> </div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-via="foldoc"> Tweet </a> <script> if (!document.getElementById('twitter-wjs')) { var fjs = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0], js = document.createElement('script'); js.id = 'twitter-wjs'; js.src = 'https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); } </script> </div> <hr> <div> <p></p> </div> <p> <a href="/rss.xml"> <img src="/orangerss.gif" width="14" height="14" alt="RSS feed of new items"> </a>   <a href="/new.html">Recent Updates</a>     |     <a href="/missing.html">Missing Terms</a> </p> <p>Updated: Sat, 05 Apr 2025 21:25:49 GMT</p> <p>15282 entries</p> <p><em><a href="/Free+On-line+Dictionary">Copyright Denis Howe 1985</a></em></p> </div>  </div>   <script type="text/javascript"> window._qevents = window._qevents || []; (function() { var elem = document.createElement('script'); elem.src = 'https://secure.quantserve.com/quant.js'; elem.async = true; elem.type = 'text/javascript'; var scpt = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; scpt.parentNode.insertBefore(elem, scpt); })(); window._qevents.push({ qacct: 'p-48Rosdvs3EiOc', uid: '__INSERT_EMAIL_HERE__' }); </script> <noscript> <div style="display:none;"> <img src="https//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-48Rosdvs3EiOc.gif" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="Quantcast"/> </div> </noscript>  </body> </html>

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Internet from FOLDOC