TheInternet is the global seestem o interconnectitcomputernetworks that uise theInternet protocol suite (TCP/IP) tae link devices warldwide. It is anetwork o networks that conseests o private, public, academic, business, an govrenment networks o local tae global scope, linked bi a broad array o electronic, wireless, an optical networkin technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range o information resoorces an services, such as the inter-linkedhypertext documents anapplications o theWorld Wide Web (WWW),electronic mail,telephony, anpeer-to-peer networks forfile sharin.
The origins o the Internet date back tae resairch commissioned bi theUnitit States federal govrenment in the 1960s tae big robust, fault-tolerant communication via computer networks.[1] The primary precursor network, theARPANET, ineetially served as a backbane for interconnection o regional academic an militar networks in the 1980s. The fundin o theNational Science Foundation Network as a new backbane in the 1980s, as well as private fundin for ither commercial extensions, led tae warldwide pairteecipation in the development o new networkin technologies, an the merger o mony networks.[2] The linkin o commercial networks an enterprises bi the early 1990s merks the beginnin o the transeetion tae the modren Internet,[3] an generatit a susteened exponential growth as generations o institutional,personal, anmobile computers war connectit tae the network. Awtho the Internet wis widely uised biacademia syne the 1980s, thecommercialisation incorporatit its services an technologies intae virtually every aspect o modren life.
Internet uise grew rapidly in the Wast frae the mid-1990s an frae the late 1990s in thedevelopin warld.[4] In the twa decades syne then, Internet uise haes grown 100-times, meisurt for the period o ane year, tae ower ane third o thewarld population.[5][6] Maist tradeetional communications media, includin telephony, radio, telly, paper mail an newspapers are bein reshaped or redefined bi the Internet, giein birth tae new services such asemail,Internet telephony,Internet televeesion muisic, digital newspapers, anvideo streamin wabsteids. Newspaper, beuk, an ither prent publishin are adaptin taewabsteid technology, or are reshaped intaebloggin,wab feeds an onlinenews aggregators. The Internet haes enabled an acceleratit new forms o personal interactions throuinstant messagin,Internet forums, ansocial networkin.Online shappin haes grown exponentially baith for major retailers ansmaw businesses anentrepreneurs, as it enables firms tae extend thair "bricks an mortar" presence tae serve a lairger mercat or evensell guids an services entirely online.Business-tae-business anfinancial services on the Internet affectsupply chains athort entire industries.
The Internet haes na centralised govrenance in either technological implementation or policies for access an uisage; each constituent network sets its awn policies.[7] Anerly the owerreachin defineetions o the twa principalname spaces in the Internet, theInternet Protocol address space an theDomain Name System (DNS), are directit bi a mainteener organisation, theInternet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical unnerpinnin an staundartisation o the core protocols is an activity o theInternet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organisation o loosely affiliatit internaitional participants that onyane mey associate wi bi contreibutin technical expertise.[8]
