Name: Does Anybody Own The Internet?
Uploaded: 2019-04-04T16:15:43.000Z
Duration: 5 min 20 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Russia is considering a temporary disconnect
from the world wide web to test cybersecurity

Adverbs of manner

and possibly move towards an autonomous Russian
internet infrastructure.

Adverbs of degree

But can they even do that, just up and leave
the internet?

Is there some owner of the internet who can
stop them?

As you may have noticed, the internet is huge.

It's a global network that connects computers
around the entire world; I can be in Barcelona

and theoretically access the exact same websites
that I do in Los Angeles.

You know, so long as local laws and Digital
Rights Management permit.

Something this huge can't be owned by any
one entity.

Instead, it's a hierarchy of structures
with lots of smaller owners along the way.

When your computer or smart device is connected
to the internet you become a teeny tiny part

You rely on an Internet Service Provider,
or ISP, to physically connect you to everyone

Actually, you rely on multiple ISPs, which
form tiers of networks.

The tiers are determined by network size,
which also dictates whether they transfer

data by paying for the transit across larger
networks or share it with other similarly

sized networks for mutually agreed upon benefits.

These are companies like Comcast or Verizon
Communications, and they strictly operate

by paying to send their data using bigger,
more well-connected networks.

They're also known as Last Mile Providers
because, well, they're responsible for the

last miles of cable that connects your access
point to the overall network.

Above that is a Tier 2 ISP, which can either
pay to send data across larger networks like

Tier 3 ISPs or they share data with networks
of a similar size for mutual benefits, what's

Nowadays they can be also provide last mile
service like Tier 3 ISPs, and they're companies

And finally, above that are the Tier 1 ISPs
the huge networks that own the cables connecting

These companies are also known as backbone
internet providers.

They connect to other Tier 1 ISPs to exchange
traffic through peering agreements, and just

like that you have a global network of computers.

Considering how huge and complex it is, it's
pretty incredible the thing works at all.

That's all thanks to several organizations,
many of which are nonprofit, that standardize

They each have their own responsibilities,
like setting standards, maintaining architecture

and stability, and assigning each domain name
with a unique IP address.

These organizations don't own the internet,
but have a profound effect on how the whole

Likewise, the internet can be regulated in
specific places based on the local government's

rules, like China's censorship laws or the
U.S.'s rules on net neutrality.

So if Russia's government wanted to disconnect
from the rest of the world wide web, ultimately

If you wanted to be a bigger part of the internet
you could make a website.

You'd need a specialized computer called
a server, which is like a beefy computer with

a lot of storage space that's designed to
communicate with other computers.

There are actually lots of server types, like
email and Domain Name System servers, but

your website would be stored on a web server
at a data center somewhere.

Now imagine your website is awesome because
it's got the best pictures of cats ever

It's so popular someone on the other side
of the world wants to access it.

Then the entire pipeline looks like this:
you pay a web host, which owns web servers,

to use one or part of their servers to store
your data..

Let's say your particular web server is
connected to a Tier 2 ISP, so the data is

sent to a Tier 1 ISP, which shares that data
with another Tier 1 ISP, which distributes

it to lower tier ISPs until eventually it
winds up at your number 1 fan's computer

I made that sound pretty linear but actually
the data is broken up into smaller chunks

called packets, which are routed from a server
using many paths through the networks until

they're reassembled at a person's computer.

Unless that person was, say, in Russia during
the temporary disconnect.

That user could still access cat memes on
web servers that are in Russia somewhere and

connected to Russia's ISPs, but if those
ISPs don't exchange data with anyone outside

the country then effectively there's a virtual
wall between them and the outside world.Likewise

you would miss out on any Russian cat videos
you wanted to see outside the country.

Everywhere along the way, someone owns a part
of the internet.

It's your website but a web host's server.

It's their network, but they need to connect
to an even bigger network.

And there are other equally big networks they
need to connect to to make the whole thing

So everyone connected to it owns the internet,
and nobody does.

Do you think you can go without global internet?

Let us know in the comments and don't forget
to subscribe for more science in your day.

If you like internet news like this, check
out Maren's video about how we can possibly

Thanks for watching fellow internet consumers
and I'll see you next time on Seeker.