'''Note:''' The Internet is a packet-switching network. This means that your email, for example, is broken down into small individual packets which are then sent independently of each other along the many possible routes on the network that connect you to your friend's computer. These packets are then reassembled at the receiver's end to re-create your email. Important! You do not control how data travels through the Internet once you hit the send button.
===Locate===
Now that you're connected, let's discuss what happens when you request to open a particular website and how this site then delivers back to your computer. Numerous protocols and technical standards govern how the Internet and all of its users locate and communicate with each other. The most important of which we will discuss has to do with Internet addressing. Because everyone on the Internet adheres to these, you are able to open webiste.com and send an email from your computer to a friend's mobile phone in another country.
===- Internet Protocol (IP) address===
Internet routing is possible because every computer is uniquely identified on the network by what is known as an IP address. These addresses look like 83.169.39.231 and are the building blocks of Internet addressing. Whenever you want to open a website from your computer, the Internet needs to know your IP address and the IP address of the server the website is hosted on, to make the connection. Important! Your IP address is assigned to you by your local ISP or if you are using mobile Internet, by your telecommunications provider. In most countries ISPs are obligated by law to collect and store traffic data (which IP requested a connection to which IP and when) . This is used primarily for identifying user activity on the Internet at a later date and is the main tool in the hands of Internet police.
'''Note:''' in an office or Internet cafe scenario, only one computer is connected to the Internet and all other computers connect through it. Only the Internet facing computer (modem) is assigned an external IP address, whilst the others are assigned an internal IP address. Browsing history made from a computer in an Internet café can be traced back by the ISP to the café, not to the individual's computer.
'''Exercise:''' Find your current IP on the Internet'''
1. View your computer's IP by visiting http://hostip.info You can also view the IP addresses associated with your favourite websites through this system.
2. Next, go to http://whois.net/ to find out who that particular IP address is registered to.
===- Domain Name System===
Even though all computers connected to the Internet are assigned an IP address, we usually do not know these addresses nor do we use them when opening a website. Numbers are quite difficult to remember (how many phone numbers do you know by heart?) and for this reason we assign names as addresses for our websites (also known as a Universal Resource Locator – URL). These names and their associated IP addresses are recorded in the Domain Name System (DNS). This is akin to the Internet's telephone directory and is another critical component of Internet routing and operations. DNS is hierarchical, meaning that your computer can have its list of URLs and corresponding IPs, your ISP will have a list, the national provider will have a list and so on, right up to the root DNS servers (of which there are 13). Should your computer not have an entry for www.livejournal.com it will ask the next list up in line – the ISP's and so on. Whether browsing websites or sending email, DNS always plays a part. Below is a diagram describing how DNS is utilised when you search for the LiveJournal website.
'''Media:'''A brief explanation how websites are located using the DNS'''
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