Privacy and the Internet

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The History of the Internet

Connected

The 1957 launch of the Russian satellite, Sputnik, prompted the U.S. to create ARPA, the advanced research project agency, in order to compete against possibly hostile technological advances. The organisation united some of Americas most brilliant scientists and engineers, who eventually began to focus on computer networking and communications technology, originally as a way to create a nuclear-resistant communications network.

ARPANET

In 1962, Dr J Licklider was chosen to head ARPA research, and was instrumental in creating the modern day Internet through his visionary “Galactic Network” concept of globally connected computers, which he managed to impress upon MIT researcher Lawrence Roberts. In 1965, Thomas Merril and Roberts connected a computer in Massachusetts to another in California via a telephone line, creating the first wide-area computer network. By 1967, Roberts had published his plan for “ARPANET”, the advanced projects research agency network, and met British researcher Roger Scantlebury who explained his idea of packet switching for voice networks. By 1969, ARPANET, using packet switching technology, was a reality with four computers connected together. Many advances in technology and protocols have occurred since then, but the basic concepts are still the same.

By 1971, ARPANET had 23 hosts.

ARPANET Logical Map
ARPANET, April 1971

Email

In 1972, the world’s first email application was invented, quickly becoming the world’s second most popular application.

1973 saw the first international connections to ARPANET, from London and Norway, and by the time Apple was incorporated in 1977, ARPANET had 111 computers attached to it.

1980 saw the first worldwide Internet crash – when ARPANET stopped functioning for several hours after a corruption in a routing process corrupted the routing tables.

During 1983, ARPANET was split into military and civilian sections, the civilian section becoming the Internet, as we know it today, and a skyrocketing number of hosts connect.

Internet Growth

By 1990, ARPANET had ceased to exist and was fully replaced with the Internet, as we now know it, and by 1994, 25 years after ARPANET was conceived, Internet growth was estimated at 341,634% annually. In 1998, America Online acquired Netscape Communications for $4.2 billion, and by 1999 online retailers were making $5.3 billion annually.

Internet Growth - Hosts
Growth of Internet Hosts

Internet Growth - Domains
Growth of Internet Domains

Internet Growth - Web Sites
Growth of Internet Web Sites

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