I heard that no one controls the internet. But I know that if I have a website I have to register it with an organization ( I think it is called NIC) and I have to pay them regularly.
Doesn't it mean that there is someone who can control the internet in some way ? I mean what if they refuse to register my domain? or what if they decide to cancel my site? or why should I pay them ?
Any explanation from anyone please ! (in plain English ofcourse !!! )
Thank you in advance.
Sun Jun 06, 04 6:19 am
quantum Site Admin
Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Posts: 1048
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Post subject:
Nice, Ifty. At least you did not think that USA government owns the internet! I bet there are quite a number of people who think that US goverment controls the internet. lol.
Point 1: Internet is much more than www. Internet is not just a bunch of web sites owned by whimsical people. In greek, or latin, whichever seems harder to you, "Internet" refers to the global information system that -- (i) is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons; (ii) is able to support communications using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons, and/or other IP-compatible protocols; and (iii) provides, uses or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high level services layered on the communications and related infrastructure.
In english internet is a network of the networks and is capable of providing all the services that a network based system can provide! One of those services is web sites that are basically html files stored in a web server that has an address, so that other computers on the network can identify and access the server computer!
Point 2: So to answer your first question, Nobody controls internet. There is no governing body or system or community that solely decides the fate of the internet. However, there are several standard commettees that specifies the standards of different protocols and formats. The most prominent of them is the w3.org. That defines the html, css, xml, and such formatting languages' formats. This is necessary because otherwise communication would have been difficult. _________________
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Sun Jun 06, 04 11:05 am
quantum Site Admin
Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Posts: 1048
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Post subject:
Sorry, had to leave for a while. Back to the business. What was I saying? ah..
Point 2: I think you are really talking about interNic, instead of Nic right? The InterNIC website is operated by ICANN to provide the public information regarding Internet domain name registration services. And ICANN or The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is the one responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.
ICANN is a private, non-profit technical coordination body. In October of 1998, the United States Department of Commerce ("DoC") and Network Solutions, Inc. ("NSI") amended their cooperative agreement, under which NSI had been the sole registrar and registry administrator for the .com, .net, and .org top-level domains. This Amendment 11 required the establishment of a Shared Registration System in which an unlimited number of registrars would compete for domain name registration business utilizing one shared registry (for which NSI would continue to act as registry administrator).
In November of 1998, the DoC identified ICANN, a newly-formed, private, non-profit corporation as the entity that would oversee the transition to competition under the SRS. Part of ICANN's responsibilities included establishing and implementing a procedure for registrar accreditation that would ensure a transition to a competitive domain name registration system providing continued Internet stability and domain-name durability.
Point 3: Now when you register a domain, you are not buying a domain from ICANN. You are buying from a third party accredited regsitrar. And what it means is that you are paying a domain registrar to insert an entry into a directory of all the domain names and their corresponding computers on the Internet. This directory database is preserved by ICANN. And ICANN is private, non-proft entity. Nobody or no goverment can explicitly use it to control the overall domain registration process. ICANN would not normally cancel your registered domain without proper reasons. And if the third party registrar cancels a domain improperly, you can complain to ICANN, or sue the registrar and he would be out of business. And you pay for registering your domain, because only accredited domain name registrars have rights to add new DNS(domain name system) in the ICANN database. You pay them in exchange for entering your name in the database.
Now even if ICANN becomes victim of a evil genius, a lot of web sites will suffer and disappear. True. But the internet will never die. The network and protocol is already there. We will use the other network sevices to get connected again. And soon enough, we will also agree upon a common standard for IP address, domain name registrations, and DNS mapping.
I hope that clears your question. Or need I write an even longer post?
God...lol...Noooo...thanks !
I have a much better understanding now then ever. I have one question though (it might have been implied within your previous looong explanations !). The question is why can't I setup a company like the ICANN or become a third party registrar
Mon Jun 07, 04 2:30 am
quantum Site Admin
Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Posts: 1048
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Post subject:
Well, you cannot setup something like ICANN, is not entiirely true. Of course, you can gather up a few friends, then start your own internet and maintain the database on your computer, so that everybody who wants to join your tiny little internet has to pay one of your designated friends to enter his computer address in Ifty's database.
But becoming an accredited registrar is also possible too. You can apply to ICANN to become a registered domain registrar. ICANN will check if you have the resources and credentials to run such a service. If they are satisfied then they will let you start your own domain registration company. There are certain criteria to fulfill. Or there would be simply too many domain registrar.
If you are interested in becoming an ICANN-accredited registrar, please review the following links for detailed information on the process, documents, qualifications, and financial considerations involved:
The Process - [http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation-process.htm]
Documents You Must Submit or Review - [http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation-documents.htm]
Financial Considerations for All Registrar Applicants - [http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation-financials.htm]
The following links contain lists of accredited registrars and links to their websites.
[http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html] _________________
Dust fills my eyes / Clouds roll by / and I roll with them / Centuries cry / Orders fly / and I fall again
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Last edited by quantum on Wed Jun 09, 04 12:32 am; edited 1 time in total
Mon Jun 07, 04 5:58 pm
dude Power User
Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 376
Location: Savar, Dhaka
Post subject:
Is there any company from Bangladesh, that has ICANN accreditation?
Mon Jun 07, 04 11:47 pm
quantum Site Admin
Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Posts: 1048
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Post subject:
If I am correct, BTTB is the accredited domain registrar from Bangladesh.
Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, Bangladesh , is the Administrative authority of the .bd top level domain.
If you want ever to buy a .bd domain (.bd for bangladesh):
Quote:
"Application form" and a ".bd registration agreement" should be filled up, signed and sent to The Office of "Divisional Engineer" , Telex and Teleprinter Division, 3rd Floor, Ramna Telephone Bhaban, Dhaka-1000. A "Demand note" will be issued, clearly mentioning the amount to be paid to the "One point service centre"( at the same compound). Paid copy of the demand note should be returned to the same office that issued the demand note.
Application and agreement forms can be downloaded from her:
or can be collected from The Office of "Divisional Engineer" , Telex and Teleprinter Division, 3rd Floor, Ramna Telephone Bhaban, Dhaka-1000.
But domain directly under .bd is not allowed. For example "abc.bd" for a certain company "abc" is not allowed. But a domain of the form "abc.com.bd" or "abc.net.bd" is valid. _________________
Dust fills my eyes / Clouds roll by / and I roll with them / Centuries cry / Orders fly / and I fall again
Afford best design, implement best solution. Outsource your web design.
Wed Jun 09, 04 6:09 am
quantum Site Admin
Joined: 07 Mar 2004 Posts: 1048
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Post subject: Why nobody controls the net?
I think, I can summarise it better now.
Why nobody controls the net?
The Internet isn't a thing. It's an agreement.
When we look at utility poles, we see networks as wires. And we see those wires as parts of systems: The phone system, the electric power system, the cable TV system.
When we listen to radio or watch TV, we're told during every break that networks are sources of programming being beamed through the air or through cables.
But the Internet is different. It isn't wiring. It isn't a system. And it isn't a source of programming.
The Internet is a way for all the things that call themselves networks to coexist and work together. It's an inter-network. Literally.
What makes the Net inter is the fact that it's just a protocol — the Internet Protocol, to be exact. A protocol is an agreement about how things work together.
This protocol doesn’t specify what people can do with the network, what they can build on its edges, what they can say, who gets to talk. The protocol simply says: If you want to swap bits with others, here’s how. If you want to put a computer – or a cell phone or a refrigerator – on the network, you have to agree to the agreement that is the Internet.
Nobody owns it
It can't be owned, even by the companies whose "pipes" it passes through, because it is an agreement, not a thing. The Internet not only is in the public domain, it is a public domain.
And that’s a good thing:
The Internet is a reliable resource. We can build businesses without having to worry that Internet, Inc. is going to force us to upgrade, double its price once we have bought in, or get taken over by one of our competitors.
We don't have to worry that some parts of it are going to work with one provider and others will work with some other provider, like we have with the cell phone business in the U. S. today.
We don't have to worry that its basic functions are only going to work with Microsoft's, Apple's or AOL's "platform" — because it sits beneath all of them, outside their proprietary control.
Maintaining the Internet is distributed among all users, not concentrated in the hands of a provider that might go out of business, and all of us are a more resilient resource than any centralized group of us could be. _________________
Dust fills my eyes / Clouds roll by / and I roll with them / Centuries cry / Orders fly / and I fall again
Afford best design, implement best solution. Outsource your web design.
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