Have you ever wondered who runs the internet? Who controls it worldwide? You might think it’s the internet providers—companies like Jio, Airtel, or BSNL. But if one company stops providing service, others are still available, so that doesn’t amount to control. Then, you might assume the government controls it, but that’s not true either. At most, the government can remove a few Facebook posts or block certain websites. But these blocks can often be bypassed, so this doesn’t mean they control your internet worldwide.
Maybe companies like Google, Facebook, or YouTube seem like they control the internet because they manage the largest amounts of data. But that’s not true either. You’re still able to build your own website, and these companies wouldn’t interfere. So, the question is, when you build a website, who provides the space for it on the internet? Is there an organization that decides which websites you can create and which you can’t? In this article, we will explore how the Internet works and who controls it. The internet is a vital tool for preserving freedom and democracy. In countries like China, however, the government restricts access, completely blocking certain sites like Google, YouTube, and Facebook to maintain tight control. Understanding the internet’s structure and function is essential to appreciating its role in the modern world.
Who Controls Your Internet?
www.quantiflix.com, On a website, we refer to “quantiflix” as the domain name and “.com” as the top-level domain (TLD). If you want to create your own website, you’ll need to buy a domain name, and there are platforms like GoDaddy.com and Hostinger.in that sell these domains. But this raises an interesting question: who authorized GoDaddy to sell domain names? Who gave them this authority? There must be an organization that grants GoDaddy the right to operate as a domain registrar.
If you want to create your website, you’ll need to buy a domain name, and there are platforms like GoDaddy.com and Hostinger.in that sell these domains. But this raises an interesting question: who authorized GoDaddy to sell domain names? Who gave them this authority? There must be an organization that grants GoDaddy the right to operate as a domain registrar. And if there’s no one, then GoDaddy has become the boss of the internet in a way, as it would be the one to sell domain names as well as decide who can own which website.
ICANN – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
However, there is another authority above it, and that authority is ICANN – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles. You could say that this is the top-level authority regarding the internet. It has the power to authorize websites like GoDaddy.com to sell domain names. ICANN is the top-level authority that decides which domain names can actually exist. There could be .com, .in, .info, .gov— all of this is decided by ICANN.
For example, we can create a website with a .gov domain name, or use .com for a domain name. Although it is a non-profit organization, ICANN sells top-level domain names to other companies through a bidding process. The companies that buy these TLDs are called “registries.” You can visit the ICANN website to see which companies have purchased the different top-level domains. For instance, .aaa has been bought by the American Automobile Association.
Below the registries are the registrars—companies like GoDaddy.com that can sell both top-level domains as well as individual domain names to the public.
God Of Internet, who controls your internet?
So, is ICANN the God of the internet? This cannot be said because the internet is a very decentralized network. You could consider it to be akin to a net. All the mobile phones and computers that are connected to the internet make up the internet. You could call it a “server,” as your mobile phones and computers are data centers and servers connected through wires.
Huge underwater cables have been laid worldwide across continents, connecting computers to form the internet. You might wonder how mobile phones access the internet since they aren’t directly connected to these cables. Mobile phones operate through mobile towers, providing 3G/4G/5G signals, which have a limited range. Your phone can connect to these signals only when you are near a mobile tower. If you move farther away, the signal will drop. So, the towers of the Mobile Phones are connected to wires and they are eventually connected to those wires that are connected to the wires connected worldwide. You can easily understand this in the map. A big wire came to India via Mumbai. From Mumbai, the wire spread out in different directions, reaching various areas across the country, which allowed the internet to reach different parts of India.
