Internet (Caroline Era)

The Internet is a system of communication which can operate between different devices over much of the globe and the Solar System. It consists of a number of different physical methods of interfacing devices, mainly via Fibre Optics, radio transmission and reception and microwave transmission, and is used both within the Earth-Moon system and beyond, out at least to Persephone and with probes beyond even its orbit. The main users of the internet as such are large organisations such as governmental bodies, international groups such as the UN and the Red Cross, and multinational corporations. Domestic subscribers generally use online services, usually run by broadcasters or mediated via the telecommunications system, though these can interface with the internet itself. Domestic subscribers to online services can sometimes access the internet via using their domestic computer as a terminal to a mainframe providing their online service.

A number of protocols are available: telenet, SMTP, electronic mail, file transfer, Remote Control Protocol and Usenet.