Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
2.
Because the beginnings of the Internet were strongly influ
enced by the United States Department of Defense and the
National Science Foundation, some elements of the Internet
may seem to have an American bias. For example, domain
names for groups in the United States often do not carry a .US
designation, whereas domain names for groups in other coun
tries do carry a national designation. Thus, utexas.edu is as
sociated with The University of Texas at Austin—without ex
plicitly stating the United States—whereas the University of
Kent at Canterbury in England has the domain names
ukc.ac.uk and kent.ac.uk.
a.
Can you find other examples where practices associated
with the Internet might be interpreted as having a bias to
ward the United States?
b.
Can you find examples where current practices seem
clearly international; that is, where the practices seem to
treat the United States as equal with other countries?
3.
This chapter discusses three groups (ARIN, RIPE, and AP
NIC) that assign IP addresses.
a.
Investigate why this task is handled by three nonprofit or
ganizations rather than by just one.
b.
How do these three organizations coordinate their work so
that IP numbers in one region will not be confused with IP
addresses from another region?
4.
Current IP addresses utilize 32 bits (according to Internet
Protocol version 4). However, in 1997, the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF) approved a new standard (Internet Protocol
version 6) that will utilize 128 bits.
a.
Why do you think the new standard expands the number
of bits in IP addresses? Be as specific and precise as you
can.
b.
Do you think a similar expansion will be needed at some
point for the size of domain names? Explain your answer.
5.
Pick a country outside of North America.
a.
Investigate what group has authority for each of the
following:
