Who Owns The Internet?

Introduction

The internet has evolved from a network of a few hundered computers to a global network of millions of computers, PDAs and now mobile phones.

At the same time the internet has evoled from plain text to include images, sounds and videos.

So as the internet becomes bigger everyday the pressing issue remains on who exactly owns the internet?, one man? or a handful of compainies or just one company?

Or does the internet rely on a physical infrastruture and simply connects networks to other networks?

Some argue that no one owns the internet. What you have instead are thousands of players that contribute a countless number of different resources and services, that combined, allow the internet to exist and grow.

The "Internet" is just a set of rules?