The meaning of the term "Internet"

1. Introduction

1.1. The official usage of terms and their meanings constitutes the usage of terms and definitions in activities of state bodies on the basis of provisions of the Constitution, laws, statutes, regulations and other normative documents.

1.2. This document offers and comments on various official and some unofficial meanings of the term "Internet".

2. Official meanings of the term "Internet"

The term "Internet" is officially used on the basis of the following two provisions on the definition of terms from the Article 4 of the Law on Electronic Communication (LEC).

According to the point 7 of the same article, the "electronic communication network" is a system for transferring of signals which includes, where appropriate, devices for transforming or directing as well as other resources, including passive network elements that allow transfer of signals via wired, radio, optical or other electronic devices, including fixed networks (with the possibility of commutation of circuits and packages, including the Internet), regardless of the type of information that is transferred. This legal provision allows indirect definition of the first official meaning of the term "Internet": it constitutes a fixed electronic communication network (with commutation of packages).

In accordance with an explicit definition from the point 15 of the same article, "Internet" is a global electronic communication system comprised of a large number of interconnected computer networks and devices which exchange information using a shared set of communication protocols (Article 4 point 15 of the LEC). This is the second official meaning.

At the same time, a "computer network" as defined by the Article 122 point 18 of the Criminal Code is a set of interconnected computers that communicate by exchanging data.

Due to the existence of two differing official definitions of the term, the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL) offers a combined and unofficial definition on its web page: the Internet is defined as a global network or a global electronic communication system of mutually interconnected computer networks and devices that is intended for exchange of all types of information using a set of shared web protocols.

3. Unofficial meanings of the term "Internet"

3.1. The Register of National Internet Domain Names of Serbia (RNIDS) is a professional, apolitical, non-governmental and non-profit organization that has been formed as a foundation (without official authority). The Article 30 of the organization's Statute defines "Internet" as a global communication network consisting of a large number of interconnected autonomous systems (networks) that exchange information using a shared set of communication protocols (TCP/IP).

3.2. The Article 1 of the ratified Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) discusses the goals of the Union and mentions only the terms "the global information economy" and "the global information society" but there is no mention of the term "Internet" and "the Global Information Infrastructure (GII)". These terms are mentioned only within Series Y recommendations of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T).

The ITU-T Y.101 recommendation defines the following terms in this way:

"The Internet" is comprised of interconnected networks using internet protocols that allow them to function as a large, single virtual network (Article 37).

"Network" is a set of nodes and links that provide connections between two or more defined points and facilitate telecommunication between them (Article 45).

"Global Information Infrastructure" is comprised of networks, end-user equipment, information and human resources that can be used for accessing useful information, communication with others, work, learning and entertainment, at any time and from any location, with acceptable expenses at the global level (Article 33).

3.3. A resolution adopted by the Federal Networking Council of the USA in 1995 defines the Internet similarly or identically to the GII. According to the definition, the term "Internet" relates to the global information system...

3.4. The entry 732-07-01 of the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV), "Internet" is defined as an international and open computer network that provides several types of communication services and uses a shared set of protocols that direct information packages.

At the same time, the entry 732-01-03 of the IEV defines a "computer network" as a network whose nodes contain computers and data communication devices and whose links transfer data.

4. Conclusion

4.1. Taking into account the aforementioned facts, is the Internet a fixed electronic communication network (with commutation of packages), a global electronic communication system, a global information structure, or an international computer network?

4.2. Since the Internet offers information services (the so-called information society services) as well as electronic communication services, I think that at first opportunity the LEC should officially define the Internet as a global or international information-electronic communication network.

Note: The term "information society services" is defined by the Article 3 point 3 of the Law on E-Commerce.

Our term is equivalent to the US term "internet access service" – which is a service that allows users to access contents, information, e-mail or other services offered on the Internet and which may also include access to proprietary content, information or other services included in service packages offered to consumers.

The term does not include telecommunication services (codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/47/5/II/I/231).

Dejan Popovic

About the authors

MC Newsletter,
December 2, 2011