INTERNET

The Internet is a giant worldwide network that connects the Computer systems located throughout the world that are willing to share their resources. The Internet is Network of Networks. Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks. It is an open inter connection of networks that enables connected computers to communicate with each other. These networks are scattered over the globe, yet are inter connected making it possible to communicate with each other in a few seconds. Internet is not owned by any individual organization or the country; it is a free for all open service facility. It is governed by INTERNIC (Internet Network Information Centre).

The Internet is As per the ITU (International Telecommunications Union, www.itu.int website information, there were 1.13 billion subscribers to Internet in December 2006. India had 6.93 million subscribers and 60 million users of Internet. The Internet penetration figures (% of population using internet) for selected countries are given in figure 2.1. The services and information that Internet provides are increasing at a very fast pace a Server system.

Sl. No.        Country     Internet Penetration

1.                U.S.A.                  69.10

2.                Canada      67.89

3.                Germany    46.67

4.                India                   5.44

5.                World        17.36

* Source : www.itu.int

Some of the best-known services available on the Internet include following:

•         World Wide Web (www)

•         File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service

•         Electronic mail

•         Discussion groups and News Groups

•         Telnet service

·        HTML (Hyper Text Mark Up Language)

·        HTTP  (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)

Advantages:

Communication: The foremost target of internet has always been the communication. And internet has excelled beyond the expectations .Still; innovations are going on to make it faster, more reliable. By the advent of computer’s Internet, our earth has reduced and has attained the form of a global village.

Information: Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering. The Internet is a virtual treasure trove of information. Any kind of information on any topic under the sun is available on the Internet. The search engines like Google, yahoo is at your service on the Internet.

Entertainment: Entertainment is another popular raison d'être why many people prefer to surf the Internet. In fact, media of internet has become quite successful in trapping multifaceted entertainment factor.

Services: Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking, purchasing tickets for your favorite movies, guidance services on array of topics engulfing the every aspect of life, and hotel reservations.

E-Commerce: Ecommerce is the concept used for any type of commercial maneuvering, or business deals that involves the transfer of information across the globe via Internet.

Disadvantages

Theft of Personal information: If you use the Internet, you may be facing grave danger as your personal information such as name, address, credit card number etc. can be accessed by other culprits to make your problems worse.

Spamming: Spamming refers to sending unwanted e-mails in bulk, which provide no purpose and needlessly obstruct the entire system.

Virus threat: Virus is nothing but a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer systems. Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache.

Pornography: This is perhaps the biggest threat related to your children’s healthy mental life. A very serious issue concerning the Internet. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the Internet that can be easily found and can be a detrimental factor to letting children use the Internet.