The internet contains networks.
Internet . It is a network of networks that consists of private , public , academic , business , and government networks of local to global scope , linked by a broad array of electronic , wireless , and optical networking technologies . The primary precursor network , the ARPANET , initially served as a backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks in the 1980s . The Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage ; each constituent network sets its own policies .