Happy Birthday, Mr. Internet!

Four decades ago - on September 2, 1969, to be precise -- Leonard Kleinrock and a handful of associates began tests on what was soon to become the Internet. About forty people gathered in Kleinrock's lab at the University of California, Los Angeles to observe two bulky computers fifteen feet apart send test data to each other across a gray cable.

That was the humble beginning of what was originally called the 'Arpanet' network -- a government-supported data network that would use the technology which by then had come to be known as "packet switching."

Soon, the Stanford Research Institute, UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah joined UCLA - and the rest, as they say, is history...

In short order, TCP/IP communications protocols, which allowed multiple networks to connect, led to the formation of what then came to be known as the Internet, and shortly thereafter, a unique addressing system, using suffixes like the famous long ago "dotcom" came into widespread use. But the Internet as such really didn't take off until the '90s, when Tim Berners-Lee invented its World Wide Web subset to facilitate linking.

Its relative initial obscurity was key to the success and adoption of the Internet, as experimentation was readily fostered and the ideal of an open network became a reality. But with more than a billion people now online, a few caveats (at least) are in order. First, it's important to remember that the early progenitors of the Net -- and the World Wide Web that followed - were all dedicated to the creation of an open network that would allow for freely exchanged information. This fundamental belief in openness, creativity and innovation led directly to the creation of email, YouTube, Facebook, iPhone and countless other applications that have changed pretty much everything about our lives in the 21st Century.

As the Associated Press recently noted, however, "There's still plenty of room for innovation today, yet the openness fostering it may be eroding. While the Internet is more widely available and faster than ever, artificial barriers threaten to constrict its growth. Call it a mid-life crisis."

There are a number of factors one can point to when playing the blame game -- including the relentless spam and hack attacks that inevitably lead to greater reliance on firewalls and security. (We at MediaChannel can certainly attest to that!) In addition, totalitarian and authoritarian governments -- aided by the very tech companies that foster the innovation driving the Net's rapid development -- are getting better and better at blocking access within their borders. (Note to Google: Whatever happened to "Don't Be Evil?")

And government regulation aside, insidious commercial considerations are also cutting off access and openness -- including on mobile devices such as the aforementioned iPhone, where an ongoing dispute between Google and Apple (only applications Apple has approved are allowed) brings the issue into sharp focus.

Apple recently blocked Google's voice communications application, claiming it overrides the iPhone's built-in interface. But some critics contend the decision is more directly tied to Apple's desire to undercut competition. Google's competing Android system, on the other hand, allows anyone to write and distribute software without permission.

So it's good news, bad news time again. The good news is that "There is more freedom for the typical Internet user to play, to communicate, to shop -- more opportunities than ever before," as Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, told the AP. "On the worrisome side, there are some longer-term trends that are making it much more possible (for information) to be controlled."

Internet Baby Daddy Len Kleinrock is less equivocal. "Allow that open access, and a thousand flowers bloom," he says. "One thing about the Internet you can predict is you will be surprised by applications you did not expect."

Yet such practical idealism is increasingly rare in government and corporate circles -- creating the need for a movement demanding that the government to require "net neutrality" as a return to the founding principles that motivated Kleinrock and his colleagues decades ago.

If commercial fees and caps on data supply are allowed to discourage unfettered use of the Internet, "You are less likely to try things out," says Vint Cerf, another one of the Internet's founding fathers. Kleinrock, Cerf and the other leading engineers are increasingly concerned that burdensome barriers may squash future innovation before it happens -- and as a result, we may miss the many benefits that unfettered use, experimentation and innovation would certainly bring otherwise.

Many happy returns?

Follow Rory O'Connor on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rocglobal

Comments

[Non Sibi]

I do continue to be amazed at the number of distributed services out there and growing. Google docs being one, cloud computing that becomes more sophisticated and robust by the week being another. As you said, "If commercial fees and caps on data supply are allowed to discourage unfettered use of the Internet, 'You are less likely to try things out' ... "

"Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why'? I dream of things that never were and say, 'Why not'?"
- Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, & George Bernard Shaw

[jsgaetano]

The Internet- more proof that, like Conservatives say, the Government has never produced anything.

But hey, thanks to the internet, we can now see what a wide distance there is between what conservatives believe, and what reality is.

[Aaror]

Well everyone knows that a regulated network can compete quite well against an unfiltered internet, look at how AOL took over-oh, wait, they didn't do so well, did they?

[Bytown]

I didn't know it was Al Gore's birthday!! The self proclaimed creator of the Internet..

[PanBaccha]

I was unaware of the incredible amount of political racism and right-wing propaganda in this country until the internet came along. All along the blogs, message boards, radio, and news stations, we see the same vitriolic hatred by the same uneducated masses that commandeer our airwaves, many of who shoot themselves in the foot with blatant contradictions. I couldn't believe the endless spew of hatred cast Senator Edward Kennedy's way after his memorial service. This is what to expect, I suppose, when you introduce to 'right-wingers' the technological advances of a keyboard. They, like monkeys, rhythmlessly tap-tap-tap on the level of their IQ's the chaos evidently within.

[ProperGanda]

Hatred comes in all forms, not just "right wing propaganda". Im not going to defend any hateful stuff towards people after they are deceased, but it doesn't just happen to liberals. Tony Snow, is one example. If you really think right wingers are the only people who hate, than this country would probably have only a few hundred liberals. Most everyone spews hate on the internet, and if they don't agree with the politics of something, you can guarantee there is going to be hatred in the response. If you don't see hate on all sides, you are either Blind, not paying enough attention, or think your hate is "justifiable hate"

[jsgaetano]

In your attempt to be "fair and balanced", you are making some serious distortions of reality.

[ConradMazian]

You forget to mention that the only reason that Spam exists is that computers running Windows are open to viral attacks, and many Windows computers that are taken over by viruses are used to send Spam. Stop running Windows, and the problem will disappear.

So either buy a Mac, or install something like www.moonos.co.cc or ubuntu.com and see what a proper operating system (as compared to Windows) looks like.

[lastpost]

(Note to Google: Whatever happened to "Don't Be Evil?")

Sometimes superseded by “Let’s Be Profitable”?


“relentless spam and hack attacks”.

Shouldn’t the punishment for convicted hackers be, unremunerated work devising and developing counter measure systems?

[Christian Cullen]

First! I was on the internets in 1973! At Roosevelt jr high school!

[jsgaetano]

Was that back when they were just tubes?