Who controls the Internet?

Controlling the Internet sounds really cool, isn’t it? Since everything’s on the Internet, controlling the Internet would be like controlling the entire world. Well, the good news is, nobody actually owns the Internet and no person or organization controls it, entirely. See, there’s a nuance here. We’ll discuss about that later. What we need to point out now is that the Internet is an immense space which is actually intangible. The Internet, much like the universe expands infinitely. You can use the internet to visit sites like https://mommyexpectations.com/ so you can stay aware of current events. No one really knows everything that the Internet actually hides and no one can control it. This virtual space that the Internet provides has a corespondent in real life, something which we call “an infrastructure”. This is the physical pillars which really hold the Internet.

Who controls the pieces of infrastructure which sustain the Internet?

Well, this is a more logical question, it really makes sense to ask yourself this. If the Internet is this giant, immense virtual space where most of our lives take place, what sustains it? There should be a physical part to it and someone should own and control that physical infrastructure that makes up the Internet.  Well, many organizations do. From private corporations to governments, schools, even individuals and service providers, they each own some pieces of the physical seen face of the Internet.

However, the Internet does have some rules which each of its users should obey and there are certain organizations which standardize everything that happens on the Internet and oversee it. One good example is the National Science Foundation or the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Activities Board, IRTF or InterNIC and so on and so forth. These organizations closely work on assigning IP addresses and domain names to any device and network that uses the Internet. This way, you are assigned an identity on the Internet and can be tracked if you did something wrong.

So, for example, InterNic, the Internet Network Information Center, has the purpose of providing various registry services that the Internet need to work properly. The IRTF, short from Internet Research Task Force closely analyze any possible problems that could appear regarding the internet, while the Internet Engineering Task Force is working on maintaining the Internet’s communication protocols.

Therefore, there is no real owner of the Internet since the Internet is quite massive, bigger than you can even think of. There are non-governmental organizations which work to keep it running and also, governmental regulations depending on the country. And that’s about it.