Image of Internet

Internet

Technology

A crucial tool for the Venezuelan opposition. Machado credits the internet for her 2010 election victory and for enabling the training of over 300,000 volunteers to monitor the recent presidential election.


First Mentioned

10/29/2025, 3:58:53 AM

Last Updated

10/29/2025, 4:02:36 AM

Research Retrieved

10/29/2025, 4:02:36 AM

Summary

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks, utilizing the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to enable communication and information exchange across private, public, academic, business, and government entities worldwide. Its origins trace back to the 1960s with packet switching research by the United States Department of Defense, with the ARPANET serving as a crucial precursor. The Internet has profoundly transformed communication and commerce, giving rise to services like the World Wide Web, email, social networking, and online shopping. While lacking a single centralized governance, organizations like ICANN and the IETF manage its core infrastructure and protocols. Recognized as one of the New Seven Wonders by USA Today, the Internet continues to play a critical role globally, as evidenced by its use in Venezuela by volunteers to collect election results, alongside technologies like Starlink.

Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
  • Type

    Global system of interconnected computer networks

  • Structure

    Network of networks (private, public, academic, business, government)

  • Governance

    No single centralized governance; individual networks set policies

  • Recognition

    New Seven Wonders (USA Today)

  • Key Services

    World Wide Web, electronic mail, internet telephony, streaming media, file sharing

  • Inception Date

    1969-10-29

  • Core Technology

    Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP)

  • Users (by 2020)

    Approximately 4.5 billion people

  • Originating Research

    United States Department of Defense (1960s)

  • Name Space Management

    Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

  • Protocol Standardization

    Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)

Timeline
  • Origins trace back to the development of packet switching and research commissioned by the United States Department of Defense. (Source: Summary, DBPedia)

    1960s

  • Inception of the Internet. (Source: Wikidata)

    1969-10-29

  • ARPANET served as a primary backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks. (Source: DBPedia)

    1970s

  • Funding of the National Science Foundation Network as a new backbone; widely used by academia. (Source: DBPedia)

    1980s

  • Tim Berners-Lee's research at CERN resulted in the World Wide Web. (Source: Web Search)

    1989-1990

  • Linking of commercial networks and enterprises marked the beginning of the transition to the modern Internet and its visibility to the general public. (Source: DBPedia, Britannica)

    Early 1990s

  • Dramatic expansion of Internet capacity enabled by wave division multiplexing (WDM) and fiber optic cables. (Source: Web Search)

    Mid-1990s

  • Included on USA Today's list of New Seven Wonders. (Source: DBPedia)

    2006-11

  • Approximately 4.5 billion people, more than half of the world's population, were estimated to have access to the Internet. (Source: Britannica)

    2020

  • Used by a million volunteers to collect evidence of a landslide victory in the Venezuelan election, despite alleged election fraud. (Source: Related Documents)

    Recent (Venezuelan election)

Internet

The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that comprises private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information services and resources, such as the interlinked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, internet telephony, streaming media and file sharing. Most traditional communication media, including telephone, radio, television, paper mail, newspapers, and print publishing, have been transformed by the Internet, giving rise to new media such as email, online music, digital newspapers, news aggregators, and audio and video streaming websites. The Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interaction through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking services. Online shopping has also grown to occupy a significant market across industries, enabling firms to extend brick and mortar presences to serve larger markets. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries. The Internet has no single centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage. Each constituent network sets its own policies. The overarching definitions of the two principal name spaces on the Internet, the Internet Protocol address (IP address) space and the Domain Name System (DNS), are directed by a maintainer organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical underpinning and standardization of the core protocols is an activity of the non-profit Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Web Search Results
  • Internet - Wikipedia

    The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that comprises private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information services and resources, such as the interlinked hypertext documents and [...] The Internet has no single centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage. Each constituent network sets its own policies. The overarching definitions of the two principal name spaces on the Internet, the Internet Protocol address (IP address) space and the Domain Name System (DNS), are directed by a maintainer organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical underpinning and standardization of the core [...] Most traditional communication media, including telephone, radio, television, paper mail, newspapers, and print publishing, have been transformed by the Internet, giving rise to new media such as email, online music, digital newspapers, news aggregators, and audio and video streaming websites. The Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interaction through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking services. Online shopping has also grown to occupy a

  • Internet Basics: What is the Internet? - GCFGlobal

    Throughout this tutorial, we'll try to answer some basic questions you may have about the Internet and how it's used. When you're done, you'll have a good understanding of how the Internet works, how to connect to the Internet, and how to browse the Web. What is the Internet? The Internet is a global network of billions of computers and other electronic devices. With the Internet, it's possible to access almost any information, communicate with anyone else in the world, and do much more. [...] The World Wide Web—usually called the Web for short—is a collection of different websites you can access through the Internet. A website is made up of related text, images, and other resources. Websites can resemble other forms of media—like newspaper articles or television programs—or they can be interactive in a way that's unique to computers. [...] At this point you may be wondering, how does the Internet work? The exact answer is pretty complicated and would take a while to explain. Instead, let's look at some of the most important things you should know. It's important to realize that the Internet is a global network of physical cables, which can include copper telephone wires, TV cables, and fiber optic cables. Even wireless connections like Wi-Fi and 3G/4G rely on these physical cables to access the Internet.

  • Internet | Description, History, Uses, & Facts - Britannica

    Internet, a system architecture that has revolutionized mass communication, mass media, and commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to interconnect. Sometimes referred to as a “network of networks,” the Internet emerged in the United States in the 1970s but did not become visible to the general public until the early 1990s. By 2020, approximately 4.5 billion people, or more than half of the world’s population, were estimated to have access to the Internet. And that [...] The Internet provides a capability so powerful and general that it can be used for almost any purpose that depends on information, and it is accessible by every individual who connects to one of its constituent networks. It supports human communication via social media, electronic mail (e-mail), “chat rooms,” newsgroups, and audio and video transmission and allows people to work collaboratively at many different locations. It supports access to digital information by many applications, [...] Last Updated: • Article History Top Questions ### What is the Internet? The Internet is a vast network—sometimes referred to as a “network of networks”—that connects computers all over the world. Through the Internet, people can share information and communicate from anywhere with an Internet connection. The Internet can be used for almost any purpose that depends on information. ### Who were key people involved with the creation of the Internet?

  • History of internet Invention from ARPANET to Modern Web (1957 ...

    The internet as we know it today is a vast, interconnected network that has transformed how we communicate, work, learn, and interact. But it wasn't always this way. The origin of the internet dates back to the 1950s when the world was grappling with the Cold War, and researchers sought to create a communication system that could withstand disruptions. From its humble beginnings as a military project to the global web it is now, the history of the internet is a tale of human ingenuity,

  • History of the Internet - Wikipedia

    : The practice of transmitting messages between two different places through an electromagnetic medium dates back to the electrical telegraph in the late 19th century, which was the first fully digital communication system. Radiotelegraphy began to be used commercially in the early 20th century. Telex became an operational teleprinter service in the 1930s. Such systems were limited to point-to-point communication "Point-to-point (telecommunications)") between two end devices. [...] Research at CERN in Switzerland by the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989–90 resulted in the World Wide Web, linking hypertext documents into an information system, accessible from any node "Node (networking)") on the network. The dramatic expansion of the capacity of the Internet, enabled by the advent of wave division multiplexing (WDM) and the rollout of fiber optic cables in the mid-1990s, had a revolutionary impact on culture, commerce, and technology. This made possible [...] The history of the Internet originated in the efforts of scientists and engineers to build and interconnect computer networks. The Internet Protocol Suite, the set of rules used to communicate between networks and devices on the Internet, arose from research and development in the United States and involved international collaboration, particularly with researchers in the United Kingdom and France.

  • Image
    Wikidata Preview
  • Instance Of
  • Inception Date
    10/29/1969

The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing. The origins of the Internet date back to the development of packet switching and research commissioned by the United States Department of Defense in the 1960s to enable time-sharing of computers. The primary precursor network, the ARPANET, initially served as a backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks in the 1970s. The funding of the National Science Foundation Network as a new backbone in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial extensions, led to worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies, and the merger of many networks. The linking of commercial networks and enterprises by the early 1990s marked the beginning of the transition to the modern Internet, and generated a sustained exponential growth as generations of institutional, personal, and mobile computers were connected to the network. Although the Internet was widely used by academia in the 1980s, commercialization incorporated its services and technologies into virtually every aspect of modern life. Most traditional communication media, including telephone, radio, television, paper mail and newspapers are reshaped, redefined, or even bypassed by the Internet, giving birth to new services such as email, Internet telephone, Internet television, online music, digital newspapers, and video streaming websites. Newspaper, book, and other print publishing are adapting to website technology, or are reshaped into blogging, web feeds and online news aggregators. The Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking services. Online shopping has grown exponentially for major retailers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs, as it enables firms to extend their "brick and mortar" presence to serve a larger market or even sell goods and services entirely online. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries. The Internet has no single centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage; each constituent network sets its own policies. The overreaching definitions of the two principal name spaces in the Internet, the Internet Protocol address (IP address) space and the Domain Name System (DNS), are directed by a maintainer organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical underpinning and standardization of the core protocols is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise. In November 2006, the Internet was included on USA Today's list of New Seven Wonders.

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Location Data

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