Internet, History of

Definition of the Internet

In everyday conversation, most people use the term Internet as a synonym for the World Wide Web (WWW). However, this colloquial definition is wrong from a technical perspective: The WWW is indeed a part of the Internet, but it is only one service among many others (see Table 1).

Given that background, what is a more precise definition of the Internet? Perhaps the simplest and shortest definition would be this: The Internet is a global net of computer networks. Some authors add the technical specification that the Internet includes all communication based on the TCP/IP protocol (see below for further details).

Two points should be highlighted in this definition. First, the Internet is a global communication infrastructure that provides public access to all users. The Internet differs, in other words, from Local Area Networks (called LANs) that provide access only to a limited number of users (such as students and faculty members at the same university, employees of the same company, and so on). Second, the Internet is a metanetwork that allows for the integration of a variety of computer networks that differ with regard to hardware and software (including operating systems).

Under this broader definition, the history of the Internet does not start with the invention of the WWW (say in 1989), but much sooner: The oldest Internet service is the File Transfer Protocol (or FTP), which was invented and first used in 1970.

It is not easy to distinguish specific phases in Internet history, which is due to the fact that many development processes were taking place in parallel and had neither a clear beginning nor a specific culminating point or end. Nevertheless, the determination of phases is helpful to highlight key trends and structure the long list of facts and figures in a systematic way. For the sake of simplicity, [Page 413]then, three main phases can be distinguished in the Internet's history: a military, an academic, and a commercial phase that are separated by key events.

Military Phase: The ARPA-NET (1969–1985)

In the beginning of the Internet, military aims and resources were of key importance. In retrospect, the triggering event lies back in the cold war. In 1957, the Soviet Union successfully developed and launched the first artificial satellite (named Sputnik). This led to the so-called Sputnik crisis, involving the sudden awareness of the United States that the Soviets were technologically more advanced and able to launch intercontinental missiles. As a reaction to that crisis, military spending for research and development was increased to cope with this technological challenge. In 1958, several new institutional bodies were created, including not only the National Aeronautics and Space Administration but also the less well-known Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense. This agency was a longtime sponsor of the main predecessor of the modern Internet, called the ARPA-Net (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Net).

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