As promised, we get back to you with yet another IP related concept that will help you understand better not only our business model and all the use cases we’re showcasing but also the blockchain environment overall.

This time around we’re gonna talk exactly about what Internet Protocol is. And, yes, it’s about rules. Or something in between.

Briefly, IP (the short for “Internet Protocol”) is seen as the backbone of the Internet. We like to think about it as the lower infrastructure on top of which are built various set of rules (or protocols) that govern Internet activity and facilitate completion of a variety of actions on the World Wide Web. Think about these rules like a set of good practices for web-communications.

Now, do you think you can bear with me for 1 minute to put things into a more technical context?

First of all, IP addresses are managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which has overall responsibility for the Internet Protocol (IP) address pool, and by the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) to which IANA distributes large blocks of addresses. An IP address is a great product of modern computer technology designed to allow one computer (or any other digital device) to communicate with another via the Internet. IP addresses allow the location of literally billions of digital devices that are connected to the Internet to be pinpointed and differentiated from other devices.

In fact, this is the main attribute of Internet Protocols that makes our business model possible: it allows us to access the IP of somebody lying on the beach in the Bahamas (which, believe me, is harder than it looks) and put it in a larger infrastructure to be used when the owner is not using it.

It essentially works like a tracking device for computers connected to the Internet. Like a track and trace system, but for the Internet. Get it? Now, the last thing I think is good for you to understand is that there are two kinds of IP addresses: dynamic and static. When a device is assigned a static IP address, the address does not change. When you have a dynamic IP address, this can change every time you reset your router, for example. It’s as simple as this.

Now, that’s about it for today, folks. If you missed the first pill in our series, here’s a brief explanation of what is Internet Governance. The next pill is going to be about IP Utility.

Until next time, let’s keep in touch, and don’t forget that if you have any other terms you’d like us to explain, all you have to do is comment below and we’ll have them explained for you.

Cheers!