Who Owns The Internet?
Many times the answer to a question is usually asked by people. The question is “Who owns the Internet?”
There are two possible answers to this question. The first is “many people”, and the second is “no one”.
All the organizations registered in the virtual world, together maintain the structure and function and the internet is running at every moment. But there is no specific ownership of the internet.
No One Owns The Internet
Although some organizations are trying to determine the structure of the Internet, if it is thought of as a single entity, it has no specific ownership. No government or organization is independent in claiming ownership of the Internet. The Internet literally creates a structure where its physical interface connects one network to another and thus it works in a dependent manner.
Suppose there are a few people in a small room who speak different languages. This time a specific communication was created for them which includes a standard set of rules and vocabulary. So everyone will be able to maintain the same page.
The Internet essentially allows different networking devices to connect to another networking device. As a result, it is possible to link one computer device to another and it maintains certain standardized set of rules. No entity owns them. They exist only for convenience and to maintain certain values. The Internet is a worldwide collection of inter-networked systems that works on specific sets of rules as protocols. These protocols help computers to communicate over a network. The routers working on this project depend on a specific infrastructure and computer system. Network access points play an important role in this regard. The Internet is now a giant system spread all over the world. Which is formed through many small smaller systems. Although these smaller systems have a specific owner, the larger system created by them has no ownership.
Are Governments Owners Of Internet ?
No government in any country of the world can claim the Internet as its property. In addition, there is no company in the world that is able to claim to be the owner of the Internet. So the internet is a ownerless thing, which is spread all over the world.
However, the government of a country has the power to determine whether the people of its country can search on the Internet in general or in what sense the people of its country can use the Internet. If the government of the country wants, it can ban a website or an internet service for its country. As a result, it is generally not accessible from that country. If you use a VPN or a proxy, it may be considered illegal.
Who Controls The Internet ?
There are some companies that are able to master the level of access and control of the quality of the Internet. They cannot be the owners of the system, they are able to influence the internet experience.
In the early days of the Internet, Arpanet was working as the backbone of the entire system. There are currently a number of physical networks that serve as the backbone for connecting between different networking systems and devices. Nowadays some companies provide routers and cables as the backbone of the internet these are the main tools for using the internet. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can use the Internet as much as they want, if they wish. These companies are:
- AT&T
- Verizon
- Sprint
- UUNET
- Qwest
- IBM
- Level 3
