The following

outline Outline or outlining may refer to: * Outline (list), a document summary, in hierarchical list format * Code folding, a method of hiding or collapsing code or text to see content in outline form * Outline drawing, a sketch depicting the outer edge ...

is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Internet. Internet – worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of interconnected smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.

Internet features

* Hosting – **

File hosting A file-hosting service, cloud-storage service, online file-storage provider, or cyberlocker is an internet hosting service specifically designed to host user files. It allows users to upload files that could be accessed over the internet afte ...

– ** Web hosting ** E-mail hosting **

DNS hosting A DNS hosting service is a service that runs Domain Name System (DNS) servers. Most, but not all, domain name registrars include DNS hosting service with registration. Free DNS hosting services also exist. Many third-party DNS hosting services p ...

** Game servers ** Wiki farms * World Wide Web – ** Websites – ** Web applications – ***

Webmail Webmail (or web-based email) is an email service that can be accessed using a standard web browser. It contrasts with email service accessible through a specialised email client software. Examples of webmail providers are 1&1 Ionos, AOL Mail, G ...

– *** Online shopping – *** Online auctions – *** Webcomics – *** Wikis – * Voice over IP * IPTV

Internet communication technology

Internet infrastructure

Critical Internet infrastructure __NOTOC__ Critical Internet infrastructure is a collective term for all hardware and software systems that constitute essential components in the operation of the Internet. Background Several studies and events have helped to define the scope of ...

– *

Internet access Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet ...

– ** Internet access in the United States – * Internet service provider – * Internet backbone – * Internet exchange point (IXP) – * Internet standard – ** Request for Comments (RFC) –

Internet communication protocols

Internet protocol suite –

Link layer

Link layer – *

Address Resolution Protocol The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a communication protocol used for discovering the link layer address, such as a MAC address, associated with a given internet layer address, typically an IPv4 address. This mapping is a critical function ...

(ARP/InARP) – * Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) – * Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) – * Tunneling protocol (Tunnels) – **

Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol In computer networking, Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is a tunneling protocol used to support virtual private networks (VPNs) or as part of the delivery of services by ISPs. It uses encryption ('hiding') only for its own control messages (using ...

(L2TP) – * Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) – * Media Access Control – ** Ethernet – **

Digital subscriber line Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

(DSL) – ** Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) – ** Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) –

Internet layer

Internet layer – * Internet Protocol (IP) – **

IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth version of the Internet Protocol (IP). It is one of the core protocols of standards-based internetworking methods in the Internet and other packet-switched networks. IPv4 was the first version de ...

– ** IPv6 – *

Internet Control Message Protocol The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is a supporting protocol in the Internet protocol suite. It is used by network devices, including routers, to send error messages and operational information indicating success or failure when communi ...

(ICMP) – **

ICMPv6 Internet Control Message Protocol version 6 (ICMPv6) is the implementation of the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). ICMPv6 is an integral part of IPv6 and performs error reporting and diagnostic func ...

– * Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) – ** IPsec –

Transport layer

Transport layer – * Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) – * User Datagram Protocol (UDP) – *

Datagram Congestion Control Protocol In computer networking, the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) is a message-oriented transport layer protocol. DCCP implements reliable connection setup, teardown, Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN), congestion control, and feature ne ...

(DCCP) – *

Stream Control Transmission Protocol The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is a computer networking communications protocol in the transport layer of the Internet protocol suite. Originally intended for Signaling System 7 (SS7) message transport in telecommunication, the p ...

(SCTP) – * Resource reservation protocol (RSVP) – *

Explicit Congestion Notification Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) is an extension to the Internet Protocol and to the Transmission Control Protocol and is defined in RFC 3168 (2001). ECN allows end-to-end notification of network congestion without dropping packets. ECN is ...

(ECN) –

Application layer

Application layer An application layer is an abstraction layer that specifies the shared communications protocols and Interface (computing), interface methods used by Host (network), hosts in a communications network. An ''application layer'' abstraction is speci ...

– * Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) – *

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a network management protocol used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks for automatically assigning IP addresses and other communication parameters to devices connected to the network using a cli ...

(DHCP) – * Domain Name System (DNS) – * File Transfer Protocol (FTP) – * Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) – * Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) – * Internet Relay Chat (IRC) – * LDAP – * Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) – *

Network News Transfer Protocol The Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) is an application protocol used for transporting Usenet news articles (''netnews'') between news servers, and for reading/posting articles by the end user client applications. Brian Kantor of the Univers ...

(NNTP) – *

Network Time Protocol The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a networking protocol for clock synchronization between computer systems over packet-switched, variable- latency data networks. In operation since before 1985, NTP is one of the oldest Internet protocols in c ...

(NTP) – * Post Office Protocol (POP) – * Routing Information Protocol (RIP) – * Remote procedure call (RPC) – * Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) – *

Session Initiation Protocol The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, and terminating communication sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications. SIP is used in Internet telephony, in private IP telepho ...

(SIP) – * Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) – * Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) – * SOCKS – * Secure Shell (SSH) – * Telnet – * Transport Layer Security (TLS/SSL) – * Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) –

History of the Internet

History of the Internet
The internet wasn't invented but continually developed by internet pioneers. * Predecessors ** NPL network – a local area computer network operated by a team from the National Physical Laboratory in England that pioneered the concept of packet switching. ** ARPANET – an early packet switching network and the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP which later became a technical foundation of the Internet. ** Merit Network – a computer network created in 1966 to connect the mainframe computers at universities that is currently the oldest running regional computer network in the United States. ** CYCLADES – a French research network created in the early 1970s that pioneered the concept of packet switching, and was developed to explore alternatives to the ARPANET design. ** Computer Science Network (CSNET) – a computer network created in the United States for computer science departments at academic and research institutions that could not be directly connected to ARPANET, due to funding or authorization limitations. It played a significant role in spreading awareness of, and access to, national networking and was a major milestone on the path to development of the global Internet. **

National Science Foundation Network The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 1985 to 1995 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States. The p ...

(NSFNET) – * History of Internet components ** History of packet switching – ** very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) – **

Network access point Internet exchange points (IXes or IXPs) are common grounds of IP networking, allowing participant Internet service providers (ISPs) to exchange data destined for their respective networks. IXPs are generally located at places with preexisting ...

(NAP) – **

Federal Internet Exchange Federal Internet Exchange (FIX) points were policy-based network peering points where U.S. federal agency networks, such as the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET), NASA Science Network (NSN), Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), and MILNET ...

(FIX) – ** Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) – * Timeline of Internet conflicts

Internet usage

Global Internet usage Global Internet Usage is the number of people who use the Internet worldwide. Internet users In 2015, the International Telecommunication Union estimated about 3.2 billion people, or almost half of the world's population, would be online by the ...

* Internet traffic * List of countries by number of Internet users * List of sovereign states in Europe by number of Internet users * List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions * List of countries by number of Internet hosts * Languages used on the Internet * List of countries by IPv4 address allocation * Internet Census of 2012

Internet politics

* Internet privacy – a subset of data privacy concerning the right to privacy from third parties including corporations and governments on the Internet. * Censorship – the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or "inconvenient" as determined by government authorities or by community consensus. ** Censorship by country – the extent of censorship varies between countries and sometimes includes restrictions to

freedom of the Press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, and human rights. ** Internet censorship – the control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet enacted by regulators or

self-censorship Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or insti ...

. ***

Content control software An Internet filter is software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access, especially when utilized to restrict material delivered over the Internet via the Web, Email, or other means. Content-control software dete ...

– a type of software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access. *** Internet censorship and surveillance by country *** Internet censorship circumvention – the use of techniques and processes to bypass filtering and censored online materials. * Internet law – law governing the Internet, including dissemination of information and software, information security,

electronic commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

, intellectual property in computing, privacy, and freedom of expression.

Internet organizations

* Domain name registry or Network Information Center (NIC) – a database of all domain names and the associated registrant information in the top level domains of the Domain Name System of the Internet that allow third party entities to request administrative control of a domain name. **

Private sub-domain registry A private sub-domain registry allocates domain names in a subset of the Domain Name System under a domain registered with an ICANN-accredited or ccTLD registry. Most of the private sub-domain registries operate based on an ISO 3166-1 name that is ...

– an NIC which allocates domain names in a subset of the Domain Name System under a domain registered with an ICANN-accredited or ccTLD registry. * Internet Society (ISOC) – an American non-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet-related standards, education, access, and policy. *

InterNIC The Network Information Center (NIC), also known as InterNIC from 1993 until 1998, was the organization primarily responsible for Domain Name System (DNS) domain name allocations and X.500 directory services. From its inception in 1972 until O ...

(historical) – the organization primarily responsible for Domain Name System (DNS) domain name allocations until 2011 when it was replaced by ICANN. * Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – a nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces of the Internet, ensuring the network's stable and secure operation. ** Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – a department of ICANN which allocates domain names and maintains IP addresses. *

Internet Activities Board The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is "a committee of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and an advisory body of the Internet Society (ISOC). Its responsibilities include architectural oversight of IETF activities, Internet Standards ...

(IAB) – ** Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) –

Non-profit Internet organizations

* Advanced Network and Services (ANS) (historical) – * Internet2 – * Merit Network – *

North American Network Operators' Group The North American Network Operators' Group (NANOG) is an educational and operational forum for the coordination and dissemination of technical information related to backbone/enterprise networking technologies and operational practices. It runs ...

(NANOG) –

Commercial Internet organizations

* Amazon.com – *

ANS CO+RE Advanced Network and Services, Inc. (ANS) was a United States non-profit organization formed in September, 1990 by the NSFNET partners (Merit Network, IBM, and MCI) to run the network infrastructure for the soon to be upgraded NSFNET Backbone Ser ...

(historical) – * Google – an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.

Cultural and societal implications of the Internet

* Sociology – the scientific study of society, including patterns of

social relationships A social relation or also described as a social interaction or social experience is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or more individuals ...

social interaction A social relation or also described as a social interaction or social experience is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or more individuals ...

, and culture. **

Sociology of the Internet The sociology of the Internet involves the application of sociological theory and method to the Internet as a source of information and communication. The overlapping field of digital sociology focuses on understanding the use of digital media ...

– the application of sociological theory and methods to the Internet, including analysis of online communities, virtual worlds, and organizational and social change catalyzed through the Internet. ** Digital sociology – a sub-discipline of sociology that focuses on understanding the use of digital media as part of everyday life, and how these various technologies contribute to patterns of human behavior, social relationships and concepts of the self. * Internet culture *

List of web awards This list of web awards is an index to articles on notable awards related to the internet. List See also * Lists of awards * List of computer-related awards * List of webcomic awards This article provides a list of notable awards for webcom ...

Underlying technology

MOSFET The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...

(MOS transistor) **

CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss", ) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFE ...

(complementary MOS) **

LDMOS LDMOS (laterally-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor) is a planar double-diffused MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor) used in amplifiers, including microwave power amplifiers, RF power amplifiers and audio power amplifie ...

(lateral diffused MOS) **

Power MOSFET A power MOSFET is a specific type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) designed to handle significant power levels. Compared to the other power semiconductor devices, such as an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IG ...

RF CMOS RF CMOS is a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) technology that integrates radio-frequency (RF), analog and digital electronics on a mixed-signal CMOS (complementary MOS) RF circuit chip. It is widely used in modern wire ...

( radio frequency CMOS) * Optical networking **

Fiber-optic communication Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of infrared light through an optical fiber. The light is a form of carrier wave that is modulated to carry information. Fiber is pref ...

** Laser ** Optical fiber * Telecommunications network ** Modem ** Telecommunication circuit * Wireless network **

Base station Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service." The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless com ...

Cellular network A cellular network or mobile network is a communication network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless. The network is distributed over land areas called "cells", each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver (typically thre ...

** RF power amplifier ** Router ** Transceiver