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History of the First Internet 396

U96 writes "Ever since the Gore claim to have "invented" the internet, its history has been the subject of misinformation and ridicule. The Institue of Internet History contains an accurate, in-depth examination of the early industrial origins of the internet. An interesting read..."
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History of the First Internet

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  • Slashdotted Already? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Tiberius_Fel ( 770739 ) <fel AT empirereborn DOT net> on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:32PM (#11001815)
    I don't seem to be able to load the link... it can't be slashdotted already, can it? :P
  • by swordgeek ( 112599 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:34PM (#11001829) Journal
    Al Gore NEVER CLAIMED TO HAVE INVENTED THE INTERNET!!!

    NEVER!

    NOT ONCE!

    He did claim to have pushed for financing of it, which led to the development of it beyond its original boundaries. This is actually true! But he never claimed to have invented the internet.
  • What claim? (Score:4, Informative)

    by gabe ( 6734 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:35PM (#11001840) Homepage Journal
  • Al Gore's Internet (Score:3, Informative)

    by jea6 ( 117959 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:36PM (#11001847)

    Claim: Vice-President Al Gore claimed that he "invented" the Internet.

    Status: False.

    Origins: No, Al Gore did not claim he "invented" the Internet, nor did he say anything that could reasonably be interpreted that way. The derisive "Al Gore said he 'invented' the Internet" put-downs are misleading distortions of something he said (taken out of context) during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Late Edition" program on 9 March 1999. When asked to describe what distinguished him from his challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, Gore replied (in part):

    During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.
    http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.htm [snopes.com]
  • by bigtallmofo ( 695287 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:37PM (#11001852)
    I strongly disagree with what you say:

    Resources [sethf.com]

    Quote:

    "But it will emerge from my dialogue with the American people. I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."
  • dnsalias? (Score:3, Informative)

    by fembots ( 753724 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:37PM (#11001854) Homepage
    I don't think anything can survive with a dnsalias address.

    Coralized Pages [nyud.net] here.
  • Re:Gore's "claim" (Score:4, Informative)

    by nordicfrost ( 118437 ) * on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:38PM (#11001866)
    Link to debunking of lie. [issues2000.org]
  • by MarkedMan ( 523274 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:49PM (#11001931)
    Gore never claimed to have "invented" the Internet. He did, however, correctly take credit for chairing the committee that created the Internet (and yes, the Internet was a government creation). Our bilious politics and the American (and French) habit of analysis by sarcasm, coupled with the media's and citizenry's incredible laziness, led to the damaging sound bites.

    This is from the Daily Howler's excellent analysis of this whole issue (http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh120302.shtml) It starts several paragraphs into the piece:

    Martin Walker wrote this in The Guardian:

    WALKER (12/30/88): American computing scientists are campaigning for the creation of a "superhighway" which would revolutionise data transmission.

    Legislation has already been laid before Congress by Senator Albert Gore of Tennessee, calling for government funds to help establish the new network, which scientists say they can have working within five years, at a cost of Dollars 400 million.
  • Who's seen an IMP? (Score:3, Informative)

    by chiph ( 523845 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @01:54PM (#11001971)
    All those who have seen an IMP in person, raise your hand.

    {raises hand}

    I saw some BBN technicians install an IMP while I was stationed at McClellan AFB in 1985-6. It took up 4 racks (but probably could have fit in 3). At the time, I had no clue what it was for.

    Chip H.
  • by wombatmobile ( 623057 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @02:05PM (#11002039)

    This [isoc.org] is history.

    From ISOC [isoc.org].

  • by jnik ( 1733 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @02:13PM (#11002065)
    It's hosted on a dynamic IP service..i.e. someone's home box. It has the slashdot "funny" icon on it. Even without being able to read TFA, I suspect you'll be disappointed.
  • Re:how terrible (Score:2, Informative)

    by sg3000 ( 87992 ) * <<sg_public> <at> <mac.com>> on Sunday December 05, 2004 @02:17PM (#11002096)
    > i do beleive that the last 3/4ths of posters are "off topic" or
    > "redundant"

    > the 3rd or so post linked to the al gore invented the internet,
    > now there are about 20 more to the same site.

    Redundant doesn't mean simultaneous.

    Look at the time stamps for the posts. They're all about the same time. Clearly people read the line and decided to hit reply. In the time it takes for someone to type a response and hit send, is the difference in when they were posted. Note that the longer responses are posted slightly later.

    I think "redundant" should be left for someone posting a link to Snopes or whatever a half-a-day later. Not for the case where several of people write a similar response at the same time. Particularly in the case where this is fact checking.

    This is no different than if Taco posted an article with the statement, "and as we know the moon is made out of green cheese"; you'd probably have a lot of posts submitted at the same time questioning that. Not redundant, just simultaneous.
  • by Raul654 ( 453029 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @02:23PM (#11002121) Homepage
    My advisor (David Mills [udel.edu], first chairman of the Internet Architecture Committee and inventor of NTP) mentioned this once. He said that Al Gore's staff were at every technical meeting related to internet development, and that the funding Gore helped push through Congress was critical to the project. Furthermore, he said after that quote was widely distorted in the media (where Gore rightfully claimed credit for providing the funding), he and several others who *did* invent the internet signed a public affidavit attesting to the veracity of the claim.
  • Re:wow, irony (Score:5, Informative)

    by sam_handelman ( 519767 ) <samuel...handelman@@@gmail...com> on Sunday December 05, 2004 @02:27PM (#11002141) Journal
    "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." (1)

    !=

    "I invented the internet." (2)

    Statement 2 is entirely incorrect, and Gore did not say it!

    Statement 1 is essentially correct - the internet was created by legislation, and Gore was instrumental in getting that legislation passed.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 05, 2004 @03:03PM (#11002328)
    Look it up. Gores crazy idea for funding this so called "internet" and opening it up for the public sector to use and build upon was OPPOSED by Cheney, both BILLS.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 05, 2004 @04:13PM (#11002736)

    Heh, those of us who were there at the dawn of the Internet well remember Al Gore's efforts to raise funding and to boost its public use. I even still have a book from 1992 called The Internet Companion by Tracy LaQuey that featured a Forword by Al Gore.

    He provided a service to all of us who live by the net today, and were he President now the world would be a much better place and its future would not look so terribly grim.

    He is a politician, true, but certainly one of the better ones, and deserves credit for all he did for us.

    --ern

  • by SoSueMe ( 263478 ) on Sunday December 05, 2004 @05:51PM (#11003334)
    I know it's probably not what the /.ed page was presenting, but it is something [zakon.org].
    It has benn interesting to watch this over the years.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 05, 2004 @09:30PM (#11004533)
    Passing on crap like the author's comments about Gore just means CmdrTaco is irrelevant.

    CmdrTaco, you know it's false, so why do you perpetuate it? Maybe you're just an arrogant little prick wannabe-skate-punk who has proven that advertising money from hit counts is more important than truth.

    Step aside, jackass. You've lost all remaining credibility (whatever that amounted to).
  • by Canth7 ( 520476 ) * on Sunday December 05, 2004 @11:37PM (#11005177)
    There are times when you can say that there are two sides of the coin and that what are considered lies and flip-flops are just misunderstandings and distortions created by the opposition. This is not the case with th Bush administration. Clearly, this president has flip-flopped far more than can be attributed to either Gore or Keri. To the Bush-lovers out there - I'd like to see someone refute this top ten list (with FACTS, not opinion and bluster, please): http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/28/politics /main646142.shtml

UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever things. -- Doug Gwyn

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