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data, as well as scientific literature (PubMed), accessible to readers worldwide, especially

via the Open Access  publications that can be found there.

Therefore, here are some key points about the Internet. After all, it is the basis of the

worldwide availability of today’s bioinformatics.

The Internet Protocol

This protocol is used to pass data packets from computer to computer, and to do so as

quickly as possible. In order to maintain a communication option even in the event of

atomic shocks, the Internet was originally theorized by DARPA in the early 1960s. It was

only the intensive use at CERN around 1985 that led to the initial spark for worldwide

distribution.

Domain Name Server

Each computer has a four-part number (e.g. 132.187.25.1), via which all computers that

are open to the Internet are then connected to the Internet protocol. Here, 132 means

Germany, 187 means the University of Würzburg (Universität Würzburg), 25 means a

subnet, and the last number means a specific computer in the subnet. However, since

people typically browse the Internet by name, the Domain Name Server (DNS) translates

the names (e.g. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) into the real IP addresses (i.e. the four-part

numbers).

Node Computer

The information that is passed from computer to computer on the Internet is bundled at

central points. These central computers are then called Internet nodes. Unfortunately, the

node computers are not the property of all nations, but the most important ones are located

in America and generally in individual countries. The allocation of domains and Internet

names is also in the hands of an American company, ICAM. True, it would be nicer if the

Internet belonged to everyone. But if it is already controlled by one country, America is

always better than alternatives, such as authoritarian states, which then control informa­

tion even more selectively than the USA.

The Internet has many emergent new properties, such as being super-resilient. Even

when many computers are down, whether due to disasters, government oppression, or

even war or even nuclear weapons, message packets continue to be transmitted efficiently

through the Internet. Through intense communication, people are moving closer together

to form the global village. In addition, the Internet has the property of not forgetting any­

thing. Search engines, moreover, make it possible to keep track of this, but they themselves

develop a life of their own, in particular which pages are offered to which user (i.e. which

image of the world is reflected to the user).

https://www.icann.org: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

(ICANN) is a non-profit organization:

Today, 1 October 2016, the contract between the Internet Corporation for Assigned

Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United States Department of Commerce National

13  Life Invents Ever New Levels of Language