Owning The Internet

WHO, Exactly, DOES own the INTERNET? AND, WHO or WHAT has the AUTHORITY to uphold this?

Internet is its root DNS servers

Short reply: those who have control over them, those
own' Internet - since they control all domain names and whatever addresses they refer to.

And you honestly thought you would get a simple answer?

Well, it's not exactly a simple answer. Nor is it a situation that is exactly static.

I would point you to a blog post I knocked up which gives links to possibly two of the best broad summaries of the situation right now - http://blog.icann.org/?p=29

Kieren McCarthy

Re: And you honestly thought you would get a simple answer?

Kieren, I think no one should own it. Some of the patents out there are very dangerous. Some actions from registrars are dangerous. Some registrars send junk mail.