Glossary of Internet Terms

Letter I

©2007 by Walt Howe
(last updated 1 March 2007)

This Internet Glossary is growing. Terms and definitions are being added all the time. If you have comments, corrections, or suggested additions, please send them to Walt Howe using the form at the end of the Glossary. My thanks for the many suggestions that already have been included.

I

IANA

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

ICANN

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

IEEE

Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a professional organization which sets standards for telecommunications and computers.

IIRC

Short for If I Remember Correctly.

ILEC

Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. See LEC

image map

A graphic on a web page used for navigation. Clicking on different representative areas of the graphic links you to different related pages. Web designers should always consider alternate menus for image maps or else those without graphical browsers are unable to proceed.

IMAP

Internet Message Access Protocol (sometimes listed as Internet Mail Access Protocol). A mail protocol that provides management of received messages on a remote server. The user can review headers, create or delete folders/mailboxes and messages, and search contents remotely without downloading. It includes more functions than the similar POP protocol

IMHO

Shorthand for In My Humble Opinion. Often used in chat and messages by people whose opinion is anything but humble. Sometimes more accurately rendered as IMNSHO (In My Not So Humble Opinion).

inlining

The practice of putting an IMG tag in a web page that calls a graphic from another site. Many sites, particularly those offering free storage, now view this as bandwidth theft and block remote IMG calls from other sites to their site. It is particularly bad netiquette and very likely a copyright violation to display a graphic called from someone else's web page.

intellectual property

The concept of legal protection for original creations. It encompasses copyright, trademarks, and patents.

Internet

1. A network of many networks that interconnect worldwide and use the Internet Protocol (IP). See the Internet FAQ.

2. An internet (lower case i) describes more than one local network interconnected by bridges or routers. See intranet and extranet.

Intranet

A network of networks that interconnects within a single widespread organization and uses the Internet Protocol (IP). The sites within an Intranet are generally closed to the Internet and are accessible to organization members only. See extranet.

IP

Internet Protocol. See TCP/IP

IP address

IP addresses, together with domain addresses are the two forms of Internet addresses in common use. IP addresses consist of four numbers between 0 and 255, separated by dots.

For IP assignments, see the IP Index Encyclopedia.

IRC

Internet Relay Chat. An Internet protocol that allows people all over the world to meet in conference groups (called channels) and chat with each other by typing. For more information, see the IRC FAQ.

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network. A technology that carries data over phone lines at up to 128Kbps for dialup users, but extends to fast broadband communications, too. It applies to the first three layers of the OSI and TCP/IP models. Slow to get started in the US, it is likely to be overtaken by the much faster DSL models over the next few years.

ISP

Internet Service Provider. To find one, try The List.

IXC

Inter eXchange Carrier. Another name for a long distance telephone company. See LEC.

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