The internet

‘Internet’ is the term used to describe the interconnection of millions of publicly accessible computer networks. These networks, owned by businesses, governments, universities, private individuals and other groups, all use the same method of sharing information, TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).

This internet infrastructure is used to transport and store massive amounts of digital information and services such as email, websites and internet chatting.

The internet has grown very quickly in recent years. While it was founded almost 50 years ago in the 1960s, few people in Australia had heard of the internet up until the early 1990s, let alone used it.

In the 1960s there was still no such thing as the world-wide-web or domain names. Instant messaging, blogging and podcasting hadn’t been invented. Email was used by a few thousand people in universities and people using modems connected to the internet at the lightening speed of about 1.4kb (kilobits) per second (As a comparison, dial-up modems today connect at around 56kb/second, and broadband is much faster).

Today, there are over a billion internet users across the world and over 50 per cent of Australians regularly use the web, in many cases every day.

Email has become more widely used than the postal service and over 60 per cent of Australians now buy goods, trade on the stock market or do their banking online.

The internet has also caused enormous changes in the media, entertainment and communications industries, and has reduced the ability of governments worldwide to control or censor information and knowledge.

At the same time, the internet has created new issues, such as spreading computer viruses, opening the door to online fraud and piracy, and raising questions about personal privacy.