Is "the Internet" really a platform, though? I see it as more like the telephone: customers that want to receive calls (i.e. TCP connections) sign up for the

Is "the Internet" really a platform, though? I see it as more like the telephone: customers that want to receive calls (i.e. TCP connections) sign up for the service and receive a number (i.e. an IP address) that others can then use to contact them. And some of these customers choose to have their number published in a public directory of subscribers (i.e. DNS) to make it more convenient for others to find them. At the most fundamental level, the Internet is nothing more than a vast and automated network for establishing point-to-point (i.e. private) calls between two parties.