An accessible, comic book-like, illustrated introduction to how the internet works under the hood, designed to give people a basic understanding of the technical aspects of the Internet that they need in order to advocate for digital rights.
The internet has profoundly changed interpersonal communication, but most of us don't really understand how it works. What enables information to travel across the internet? Can we really be anonymous and private online? Who controls the internet, and why is that important? And... what's with all the cats?
How the Internet Really Works answers these questions and more. Using clear language and whimsical illustrations, the authors translate highly technical topics into accessible, engaging prose that demystifies the world's most intricately linked computer network. Alongside a feline guide named Catnip, you'll learn about:
• The "How-What-Why" of nodes, packets, and internet protocols
• Cryptographic techniques to ensure the secrecy and integrity of your data
• Censorship, ways to monitor it, and means for circumventing it
• Cybernetics, algorithms, and how computers make decisions
• Centralization of internet power, its impact on democracy, and how it hurts human rights
• Internet governance, and ways to get involved
This book is also a call to action, laying out a roadmap for using your newfound knowledge to influence the evolution of digitally inclusive, rights-respecting internet laws and policies.
Whether you're a citizen concerned about staying safe online, a civil servant seeking to address censorship, an advocate addressing worldwide freedom of expression issues, or simply someone with a cat-like curiosity about network infrastructure, you will be delighted -- and enlightened -- by Catnip's felicitously fun guide to understanding how the internet really works!
Author(s): Article 19 (Author), Mallory Knodel (Contributor), Ulrike Uhlig (Contributor), Niels ten Oever (Contributor), Corinne Cath (Contributor)
Edition: 1
Publisher: No Starch Press
Year: 2020
Language: English
Commentary: Vector PDF
Pages: 120
City: San Francisco, CA
Tags: Anonymity; Popular Science; DNS; HTTP; Cryptography; Networking; HTTPS; Internet Protocol; Censorship; Content Delivery Networks
Hi! I’m Catnip.
Chapter 1: How Is the Internet Networked?
Nodes and Networks
Servers and Clients
Network Types
Centralized Network
Decentralized Network
Distributed Network
Hardware Addresses
Media Access Control Addresses (MAC)
Random MAC Addresses
How a Device Becomes Part of a Network
Talking to the Router
Getting Connected
Chapter 2: What Form Does Information Take on the Internet?
Packets
What Are Packets Made Of?
Transmitting Packets
Chapter 3: How Do Devices Communicate on the Internet?
Protocols
International Organizations for Protocols and Standards
The Internet Protocol (IP)
Public and Private IP Addresses
Network Address Translation (NAT)
IPv4 Addresses
IPv6 Addresses
Global IP Address Allocation
IP Routing
Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)
Chapter 4: How Does Information Travel on the Internet?
The Map of the Internet
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
Peering
Transit
Internet Exchange Points (IXP)
Transport Protocols
User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC)
Chapter 5: How Do People Relate to Information on the Internet?
Domain Name System (DNS)
How Does a Domain Name Resolve Back to an IP Address?
DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC)
DNS over HTTPS (DOH)
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
HTTP Headers
HTTP Status Codes
Secure HTTP: HTTPS
Transport Layer Security (TLS)
Server Name Indication
Cryptography
Cryptographic Techniques
Signing Data
Encryption
Asymmetric Cryptography
Symmetric Cryptography
Transport Encryption
Limitations of Transport Encryption
End-to-End Encryption
Double Ratchet Algorithm
OpenPGP and GPG
Encrypting Data at Rest
Forward Secrecy
Limiting Encryption
Machine-in-the-Middle
Chapter 6: What Can Interfere with Information Traveling Across the Internet?
Censorship
IP Blocking
Content Filtering
URL Filtering
DNS Blocking
Deep Packet Inspection
Network Shutdowns
Great Firewall of China
Content and Search Removal
Chapter 7: How Can Information Travel Anonymously over the Internet?
Censorship Monitoring
Netblocks
Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)
Transparency Reports
How Data Travels
Anonymity and Pseudonymity
Censorship Circumvention
DNS Proxy
Virtual Private Network
Using Tor to Avoid Censorship
How the Tor Network Works
Tor Circuit
Blocking Tor
Onion Services
Limitations of Tor
Using the Tor Network
Chapter 8: What Control Do Machines Have?
Cybernetics
Algorithms
Software Algorithms
Risks of Algorithmic Decision Making
Levels of Automation
Governance over Algorithms
Chapter 9: How Does the Internet Build on Previous Technology?
The Layers of the Internet
Social Layer
Content Layer
Application Layer
Logical Layer
Infrastructural Layer
Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Model
Chapter 10: Who Controls the Internet?
Internet Governance
Infrastructural Layer
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)
Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
Internet Society (ISOC)
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Logical Layer
Content and Application Layer
Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
Social Layer
Chapter 11: How Is Power Distributed over the Decentralized Internet?
Content Delivery Networks
Cloudflare
Akamai
Telco CDNs
The Big Five
Physical Centralization of Power
Political Centralization of Power
Consolidation and Influence at the IETF
ICANN: An Industry Expo
The Rise of 5G at the ITU
Chapter 12: How Can Civil Society Engage in Internet Governance?
The Multistakeholder Model
Organizations Where You Can Engage in Internet Governance
Open Standards Development
IETF
IEEE
ITU
Policy Development
Internet Governance Forum
Naming and Addressing
ICANN
Notes
Keyword Index
