The following is a list of questions about cyberspace, e-commerce and Internet law. I do not claim in any particular way that the questions nor their answers are to be considered complete or conclusive. The questions and their answers are provided herein for the sake of introducing visitors to this website with a brief and nutshell idea about cyberspace and Internet law. If there are any questions that you think I should include in this page, please contact me.
What and where cyberspace is located?
Cyberspace is a place. It is a place where messages and web pages are posted for everyone to browse and see. Cyberspace is not located in a particular geographical location but is available to anyone, anywhere in the world, with access to the Internet.
To learn more about this matter read the article by Darrel Menthe, Jurisdiction In Cyberspace: A Theory of International Spaces
Read also the nature of cyberspace and visit the Atlas of cyberspace.
Where did the term cyberspace first appear?
The term first appeared in a novel, Neuromancer, published by an American science fiction writer William Gibson in 1984 You can visit the website of William Gibson “father of cyberpunk” and read excerpt from his award wining novel Neourmnacer at http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/books/neuromancer.asp#excerpt
See also Artistic Representations of Cyberspace available at http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/artistic.html
What is the Internet and what are its services?
The Internet is the largest network available on earth until now. It offers a quite range of services to its users. Among the services that it offers include: E-mail, World Wide Web (W3), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and chatting.
Can we determine its size?
The Internet is not a physical or tangible entity, but rather a giant network of networks, which interconnects innumerable smaller groups of linked computer together.
The nature of the Internet makes is very difficult, if not impossible to determine its size at this time. No one It is indisputable, however, that the Internet has experienced extraordinary growth in recent years. In 1981, fewer than 300 computers were linked to the Internet. Today, over 9,400,000 computers are estimated to be linked to the Internet, That figure is expected to grow even more over the coming years.
Who invented the Internet and the World Wide Web?
The Internet is not a product of co-operation between thousands of scientists and engineers, but the underlying packet- switching technology was invented by Paul Baran in the U.S and Donald Watts Davies in the UK.
The World Wide Web was invented in 1989 in CERN by the software brilliant engineer TimBerner- Lee
If you have more question in your mind about the internet visit John Naughton, What you really need to know about the Internet at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCklVenEuXU
Are their any other important names behind the interent?
There are many , but we can mention three very important names, mainly Vincent Cerf, Tim Berner Lee and John postel. The first is the father of the internet, who was working in Net working Group and designed the TCP/IP Protocol. Tim Berner Lee invented HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and the first software for browsing the W3. The last inventor is John postel, the father of the internet addresses and the Domain Name Registry System)
To learn more see See Naavi, E- Book, Cyber Laws in India, ITA-2000 and Beyond, May 2003
Click here to order the book
Does anyone own the Internet?
The Internet is not owned by a single entity or particular country, rather it is owned by everybody.
See Webopedia Dictionary: Who Owns the Internet?”, available at
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2002/WhoOwnstheInternet.asp
See Lawrence Lessig
