How do you access the Internet?

Generally, you would need to connect your computer to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) who would then need to connect to a Network Service Provider (NSP) and you may need the help of the Domain Name Service (DNS). Technically, it may be more complex than that. In some cases, some ISPs might be their own NSP unto themselves. But ultimately, they may have to network with Regional Network Providers and then global Internet service providers. Some ISPs might also be regional and maybe even international. The Internet is simply the connection of different networks via cables, wires, radio waves, satellites, etc. The list goes on and on, perhaps. This is rather complex. Within the backbone are Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), which are physical connections between networks that allow data exchanges.

Internet Backbone

The main upstream ISPs or NSPs may include

• UUNET
• Level 3
• Verizon
• AT&T
• Qwest
• Sprint
• IBM

Three Main Levels

There appears to be three main levels or tiers to the flow of Internet traffic. It appears that the Internet can be categorized into three main parts. Tier 1 being the backbone. Tier 2 being mostly regional. And tier 3 being regular ISPs.

Backbone Tier 1 ISP

Tier 1 ISPs exchanges internet traffic with other Tier 1 ISPs. I would imagine the exchange would be similar to peer to peer (P2P) networking from computer to computer except on a global level between continents, countries, corporations, across oceans, via satellites, cables, etc. A tier 1 ISP or NSP or global service providers (GSP) appear to be the main backbone or main infrastructure or main highways to international Internet web traffic and they use Self-healing rings (SHR). Tier 1 networks can exchange traffic with other Tier 1 networks without having to pay any fees for the exchange of traffic in either direction. It appears that tier 1 networking is transit free among other tier 1 ISPs.

Tier 1 ISPs may include

• Hibernia Networks which was bought by GTT Communications, Inc. (GTT)
• Cogent Communications
• Level 3 Communications (which includes the AC-2) which merged with Century Link and delivered Netflix and Apple music and video content over the Internet as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and because of that, battled in court for 3 years with Comcast.

Conclusion

The main structure of the Internet may include those three tiers like I said. But at the same time, there are ways around it. There are peer to peer (P2P) networks that seek to get around level 1 tiers. I don't even have time to talk about what IPFS and Bit Torrent is for example. I wanted to write a post to help people understand the Internet. I want to encourage people to continue finding ways to decentralize the Internet in a variety of ways. So, this post includes random links and things about the Internet. You can continue reading if you want. I'll try to come back as soon as I can with more information and maybe even an Internet flowchart. Thanks for reading.

Regional Internet registry (RIR)

RIR manages allocation and registration of Internet numbers regionally.

Five regional registries

1. African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC)
2. American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
3. Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)
4. e Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre (LACNIC)
5. Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC)

Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) | Wiki

ICANN is overseen by the Office of Spectrum Management (OSM)

NTIA governs DNS issues globally either entirely or to an extent it seems.

ICANN

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

NTIA represent the U.S. government on the Government Advisory Committee of ICANN.

NTIA is like a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC).

ICANN managed IANA under contract to the DOC.

1998-09-17 - ICANN's launch was publicly announced and it started off at ISI.

It appears that ICANN started in 1998 and was or is under a contract with U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) or it may be now under a new contract with the U.N.

ICANN also started pursuant to an agreement with IETF.

ICANN works with the Internet Architecture Board (IAB).

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)

Verisign Inc operates two of the 13 root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, .name generic top-level domains.

Root Servers Map

Root Name Server

RIP AlterNIC

Network Solutions, LLC is an American-based technology company and a subsidiary of Web.com Group Inc., the 4th largest .com domain name registrar.

Internet domain registrar

Godaddy is an American publicly traded Internet domain registrar and web hosting company.
Web.com Group Inc., the 4th largest .com domain name registrar.

Domain Name Registrar

A domain name registrar is a company that manages the reservation of Internet domain names.

Until 1999, Networks, LLC operated the registers for .com, .net, and .org top-level domains (TLDs).

In 1997, PGMedia filed an antitrust suit against NSI. Now, NSA was granted immunity. But that put pressure on them. So, after that, we get ICANN.

The Internet Society Started in 1992

In 2016, the U.S. handed over ICANN to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) of the United Nations (U.N.).

In 1945, the United Nations (UN) was officially opened. The UN is

In 2016, ICANN was handed over to the ITU which was founded in 1865. The ITU is now like a child of the UN.

ITU came during the rise of the telegraph. So, ITU appears to be trying to centralize and govern global communication, that is radio, etc, and now, since 2016, the Internet as well, perhaps.

In 1865, the French Government hosted delegations from 20 European states at the first International Telegraph Conference in Paris. This meeting culminated in the International Telegraph Convention which was signed on 17 May 1865.

The ITU may not be or may not have been too bad of a thing.

The Internet is a global network

Internet backbone

Content delivery network (CDN)

When you connect to ISP, you connect to Point of Presence (PoP) which is generally like a data center that routes you to your ISP. In other words, PoP are like bridges between people and ISP.

Unstoppable Domains attempts to get around DNS services via an alternative DNS system, AKA Internet Address Book mechanism.

There are alternative DNS services meaning if the ICANN DNS system is blocking Mike Adams websites, that means you should route through alternative DNS services to get around the main DNS system which is currently ICANN which is governed as of 2016 by the UN via the ITS, a child company or agency or whatever of the UN.

OpenVMS

I find the history of OpenVMS to be interesting as it goes back to 1975 and as it relates to decentralization.

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ALTERNATIVE ROOTS

Are blockchain domains part of ICANN / traditional DNS?

No. Blockchain domains are what’s called alternate roots. They are not part of the current DNS.

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The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) has spoken out strongly against alternate roots in RFC 2826.

Alternative DNS root

It appears that China has their own root DNS alternative to ICANN.
Real Names was a root by Microsoft which died in 2002.

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DNS is like the Internet version of a phone operator.

Mesh Networks

Right Mesh appears to be P2P like walky talkies.
Qlink appears to be a blockchain or similar to how a blockchain works in some ways, am I right or am I being too generic?

Man in the Middle Attack

Man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) might interfere with P2P, Mesh Networks, etc, am I right?

HTTP Public Key Pinning is not supported on Microsoft or Apple web browsers.

Proton Mail

Can P2P / mesh networks survive DDoS attacks or what can be done? I don't remember if we talked about this already or not. I was thinking about this while reading about the DDoS attack on ProtonMail in 2015. I use ProtonMail and I worry about stuff like DDoS and wonder what DDoS could do to Bit Torrent, IPFS, Bitcoin, Steem, Ethereum, etc. ProtonMail maintains and owns its server hardware and network in order to avoid trusting a third party.

Internet Routing

I wonder which routing systems might be better for the sake of decentralizations. We have Broadcast, AnyCast, Multicast, Unicast, Geocast. I kind of like Anycast over Broadcast maybe, if Anycast can be more flexible than Broadcast.

VPN

Comparison of virtual private network services. List of VPNs. I wonder if any VPNs are not included on this Wikipedia list.

ARPA

ARPA came in the 1950's and had space projects which was then transferred to NASA in 1958. ARPA was renamed DARPA in 1972.

Government Routers

The Non-classified Internet Protocol (IP) Router Network (NIPRNet) had or has IP routers owned by United States Department of Defense (DOD). It was created in the 1980s and managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to supersede the earlier MILNET. In like the 2000's or maybe longer, NIPRNet has grown faster than the U.S. Department of Defense can monitor. DoD spent $10 million in 2010 to map out the current state of the NIPRNet, in an effort to analyze its expansion, and identify unauthorized users, who are suspected to have quietly joined the network.

Accessing Internet Options

Some of the ways people access the Internet includes

Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL)
Cable Internet access
Very high speed digital subscriber line (VDSL)
Fiber Optics

Optical Fiber

Some say that because fiber optics can be so fast, like 1Gbits/s speeds or faster, that these lines can be either wiretapping or fiber tapping proofed or some might say at least tougher to survey, monitor, spy on, etc.

WWW vs Internet

Is the Internet and the world wide web not the same thing? I don't know.