Who owns the internet?

[answerbok]

who owns the internet? because there's always someone out there trying to sell you a domain name etc. Well where did they get it from? I thought the net was a free entity.

[wildwood]

I agree that the Internet belongs to no one. afaik Domain names are internationally unique and it is open to anyone to think up names, register them and sell them on. The trick is to create names that will be sought after in the future.

[answerbok]

ok Wildwood, but if internet is free; who would you register them with? God, the queen? Bill Gates? An old beachcomber in Miami? Your dad? the police? The registrar of Births, Deaths and Domains? Me? And how much do you pay [me] for that privilege?

[anthomson]

The Internet isn't owned by anyone it has evolved from several projects (initially defence and scientific). However it has to regulated by various bodies who define how things like domain names and IP addresses work. These bodies approve private companies to actually do the leg-work who ensure domain names and IP addresses are unique. These companies decide on their own rates that they wish to charge for their services.

[answerbok]

yes thx ant; i already knew 'about' the various bodies but that's my point, the place where the needle sticks.. what bodies, who elected them, can they be voted out and others in, are 'they' a powerful body or authority who said? i don't care, i just Curious. anyway isn't it true that Google has the power? or is it the isps or the pop3 machine who got Da power? [donny osmond].

[j2buttonsw]

It is not owned by anybody but it is regulated by the ICANN ( http://www.icann.org/ ) who ensure all the DNS information is correct. The ICANN have delegated "registrars" who can "trade" domain names ( see http://www.internic.net/alpha.html ).

[answerbok]

Good. J2. - and they get paid? should hope so, sounds like an important job :-)

[darth vader]

the IETF is the main body i am aware of, that dictates the standards for the internet (protocols, rules for data transfer etc.) http://www.ietf.org but the internet itself is self-regulatory hence all the problems with pornography and other possible areas which cause legal wrangles between nations, as the internet does not have national boundaries.

In answer to your question, they are not selling you a domain name (because as you correctly say it was never theirs to sell in the first place) - as J2B says domain names are maintained and recorded by ICANN who receive requests to register a unique name with a person/persons. Obviously the maintenance of tracking all domain names (and making sure 2 people don't have the same domain name) costs money so a charge is made for this. The domain name sellers you describe, are selling a "service for registering a domain name against yourself", rather than selling the name itself.

[wildwood]

If what they do at http://premium.greatdomains.com/ isn't 'selling names' then I don't know what is. Surely these names must have been registered, or else anyone could apply for them.

[wildwood]

ggrrrrr...... I'll try that again http://premium.greatdomains.com/

[answerbok]

Thx Darth and all, i get it now. :-) so what's the difference between a Point of Presence and a Post Office Protocol? and which one is the POP3? - i'll get me disk.