How does the Internet work (Step by-Step case study)

Have you ever thought who runs the internet?

Who controls the internet worldwide?

Maybe you could think that the internet provider companies like Jio, Airtel and BSNL control the internet.

But this isn't true because If one company stops providing it, there are other companies present.

Then, you'd think maybe our government controls it, but that jsn't true either.

At most, the government can remove 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 isn't true either because you can build a website of 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, who is providing you the space to create the website on the internet?

Is there a website that can tell you which website you can build and which website you cannot?

In this article, I'd like to tell you about the internet.

Because the internet is an important tool in maintaining freedom and democracy worldwide.

Therefore, I think its essential to understand how the internet works and what it is.

This is what I'd like to tell you in this blog.

Who controls the internet?

www.wiredwithscience.com-This is Url/Link

"wiredwithscience" here, is called a domain name and the ".com" is called the top level domain.

If you want to build your own website, then you will have to buy your domain name.

There are some websites that sell domain name as their job.

For example: GoDaddy.com, namecheap.com, etc

Image source-Google|image by GoDaddy

You need to go on GoDaddy.com if you wish to buy a domain name for your website.

For example:

 I had to buy wiredwithscience.com, so I went to GoDaddy.com to buy it.

Now the question is, who gave GoDaddy the authoriy to sell domain names?

Who is GoDaddy to sell domain names?

There must be someone who give assent to GoDaddy to sell domain names.

And if there's no one, then GoDaddy has become the boss of internet in a way.

That is, it would be the one to sell domain names as well as decide who can own which website.

But this isn't so.

There is another authority above it.

Image source-Google|image by ICCAN

The name of this authority is ICANN.

Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers-ICANN

This is a non profit organization based in Los Angeles.

You could say that this 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 authority that decides upon which websites can sell domain names.

This is the top level authority that decides upon which domain names can actually exist.

There could be .com, .net, .gov, .in and .org, etc.

All this are decided by ICANN.

Although it is a non profit organization, it sells top level domain names to the rest of the companies by bidding.

The companies that it sells to are called registries.

You can go on the website of ICANN and see which companies have bought the different top level domains.

Below the registries are the registrars.

Companies like GoDaddy.com, that can sell both top level domains as well as domain names to the people.

So, is ICANN the God of internet?

This cannot be said because the internet is very decentralized network.

All the mobile phones and computers that are connected to the internet, make up the internet.

How internet works?

Your mobile phones and computers are data centres and servers that are connected to each other through wires.

Huge underwater cables have been laid worldwide across the continents.

That connects the computer worldwide to one another which make up the internet.

Now, you could ask that my mobile phone isn't connected with any cable, then how does the internet work on it?

Mobile phones operate through mobile towers and offer 3G, 4G or 5G which do not have an extremely wide range.

Your mobile phones have the 3G or 4G signal only when you are close to the mobile towers.

But if you move a little further away, then the signals on your phone won't show up.

So the tower of the mobile phones are actually connected to wires.

And they are eventually connected to those wires that are connected to the wires connected worldwide.

So, in a way you could say that the company that has laid down these wires holds a huge amount of power.

Because it is supplying internet to many different places.

Image source-Google|image by ALINA SELYUKH

Secondally, you could say that the companies that lay down fiber optic cables on land to help internet reach every household by connecting these wires to the main cable and connect your computers to the internet worldwide.

They too hold a huge amount of significant power.

They are called Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

These would be companies like Airtel, Jio, Vodafone that supply internet to your homes.

And yes, they do hold significant power.

Because these ISPs can block certain websites upon the direction of the Government.

If the Government say so.

But they do not hold sufficient powers to control a lot of things.

But you could use VPNs to overcome the blockages of the ISPs.

What is IP address?

Just like every mobile phone has a number from which you can call another mobile 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 its connected to the internet, it will have an IP address.

How does the website work?

Each website too, has an IP address.

For example, if you make a phone call on a number, then the call goes on another phone which you can talk on.

Similarly, when you type an IP address in your browser.

It goes to another server and you are able to view the website of that server on your own computer.

Now you could say that you type the domain name, not the IP address.

The domin names are connected to the IP address.

Image source-Google|image by wikiHow Staff

Actually, humans cannot read the IP addresses because it is written in digits and numbers.

So the domain name is a human readable form of an IP address.

How does the internet work diagram

When you type the domain name of a website in your browser then the thing that converts the domain name into the IP address is called Domain name Server (DNS).

Sometime the Internet Service Providers block certain websites from 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 Internet Service Providers block you from reaching certain websites.

For this, you can simply use a public DNS servers.

For example, the DNS of Google is 8.8.8.8

You can go to your mobile settings or computer settings and change your DNS.

Then, the blocked website will get unblocked.

Obviously using the VPN is another way.

Conclusion:

So let us revert to your original question.

Who controls the internet? Whom does it belong?

The correct answer to this would be that it belongs to nobody and belongs to everybody.

Because the internet runs only when it is a decentralized system.

And if you wish to buy part of the internet, if you wish to own it.

Created By Wired with Science

You can only do it when you build a website of your own.

This steps will help you to build your own website.

This all process are included in internet processing and whenever you access internet.

This is how internet works.

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