The data transfer is so fast that he seems to be connected over our office LAN and sitting in the room next door. But the Internet is different from the LAN you may have in your office. The Internet is not centralized. Probably only one computer on your office LAN holds document databases, and you don't remotely login to your neighbor s computer to run a program as you can on the Internet. And unlike your LAN, no one owns the Internet.
Someone owns every computer on it.
Every owner pays for his direct connection to other computers and agrees to run certain programs that will route data around the Internet. But there is no central organization, no Internet, Inc. in charge of operations. The government, private universities, and individuals with particular interests provide the data that you can access through the Internet. Though it isn't well organized, it is generally free. Lack of ownership and decentralization also distinguish the Internet from services like America Online, CompuServe or Prodigy.