You may or may not know that the Internet is comprised of many different protocols. There are many protocols that handles things like, web pages, file transfer, email, and telephony over the internet. Here's an explanation of some basic protocols we all use everyday.
What we use for web browsing is just one of those called http, the hypertext transfer protocol. It transfers the data from a server and then the browser displays the data based on what the http tells your computer. It is probably the most known and used protocol.
Another protocol would be the email protocol. Email actually has a different way of handling data then the way webpages do. Email has to both serve and receive data. When you log in to a server, it displays the information for you. However, when you send messages the protocol actually handles the sending process as well. So there are big differences between the 'web' protocol and email, because http usually just sends you the data of web pages.
These Internet protocols are not only vital to keeping everything working, but some are relatively unknown compared to the more known like http. Why should you care about any of this?
The Internet is a place that is created by its users.
If no one were to produce content and contribute their time and efforts to maintaining it, then there would be no Internet. The IETF is the Internet Engineering Task Force, and they are made of volunteers and determine all the standard practices in the Internet. Yet don't mistake them for a governing body. There isn't any. The Internet is pretty much the wild west. Except for a few laws pertaining to child pornography, fraud, and identity theft, there isn't a lot of policing going on in the Internet.
The protocols that are used commonly today were first created by researchers and volunteers. That means anyone can contribute. Everyone can give their ideas. Just take a look on wikipedia of all the protocols there.
You would think that the something as vital as the Internet would need someone to govern it and provide protection, but there isn't. That's because this is the ultimate egalitarian construct. Leading back to my earlier article about Open Source, the Internet provides a medium for people to contribute their time and efforts in order to build interesting and wonderful things. Progress can be made here and not just for profit.
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