What Is the Internet?

The Internet is a worldwide group of public and private computers linked together to exchange information. The Internet evolved out of a group of corporations, governments, universities and research groups that started networking their computers in the 1970s (the first of these networks was established 25 years ago by the United States Department of Defense). Then, as now the main purpose of the Internet was to share information. No one owns the Internet, nor is it controlled or regulated by anyone. It is a true universal, shared resource.

The Internet offers a variety of services. The two most popular are the World Wide Web (WWW) and electronic mail (email). Other commonly-used services include newsgroups, file transfer, chatting and searching. The list continues to grow quickly as the Internet becomes more and more an integral part of daily life.

Graphic and text courtesy of Netscape.