The nature of the Internet

The explosive growth of the Internet over the last decade is attributed to two basic reasons - the non-centralized management of its development and the non-proprietary nature of its main functional units - the Internet protocols. This 'freedom' of the Internet determines its balanced organic growth and prevents it from suffering the consequences of monopoly. The only Internet-related entity with central coordinating functions is ICANN, which controls the assignment of domain names and IP addresses on a global scale - a very necessary role that works for the organized distribution of unique website names to users worldwide.