Clantwell T.

Mogado

BSIT -2A

INTERNET HISTORY TIMELINE

1960S Timeline highlighting the 1960s section

The internet as we know it doesn’t exist until much later, but internet history starts in
the 1960s. In 1962, MIT computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider comes up with the idea for
a global computer network. He later shares his idea with colleagues at the U.S.
Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Work by
Leonard Kleinrock, Thomas Merrill and Lawrence G. Roberts on packet-switching
theory pioneers the way to the world’s first wide-area computer network. Roberts
later goes on to publish a plan for the ARPANET, an ARPA-funded computer network
that becomes a reality in 1969. Over the following years, the ARPANET grows.

1970S Timeline highlighting the 1970s section

In 1973, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf collaborate to develop a protocol for linking
multiple networks together. This later becomes the Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), a technology that links multiple networks
together such that, if one network is brought down, the others do not collapse.
While working at Xerox, Robert Metcalfe develops a system using cables that allows
for transfer of more data over a network. He names this system Alto Aloha, but it
later becomes known as Ethernet. Over the next few years, Ted Nelson proposes
using hypertext to organize network information, and Unix becomes popular for
TCP/IP networks. Tom Truscott and Steve Bellovin develop a Unix-based system for
transferring data over phone lines via a dial-up connection. This system becomes
USENET.

1980S Timeline highlighting the 1980s section

Dave Farber of the University of Delaware reveals a project to build an inexpensive

network using dial-up phone lines. In 1982, the PhoneNet system is established and
is connected to ARPANET and the first commercial network, Telenet. This broadens
access to the internet and allows for email communication between multiple nations
of the world. In 1981, Metcalfe’s company 3Com announces Ethernet products for
both computer workstations and personal computers; this allows for the
establishment of local area networks (LANs). Paul Mockapetris, Jon Postel and Craig
Partridge create the Domain Name system, which uses domain names to manage the
increasing number of users on the internet. In 1985, the first domain is registered:
symbolics.com, a domain belonging to a computer manufacturer.
1990S Timeline highlighting the 1990s section

In 1990, ARPANET is decommissioned. Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues at CERN

develop hypertext markup language (HTML) and the uniform resource locator (URL),
giving birth to the first incarnation of the World Wide Web. A watershed year for the
internet comes in 1995: Microsoft launches Windows 95; Amazon, Yahoo and eBay
all launch; Internet Explorer launches; and Java is created, allowing for animation on
websites and creating a new flurry of internet activity. In 1996, Congress passes the
Communications Decency Act in an effort to combat the growing amount of
objectionable material on the internet. John Perry Barlow responds with an essay, A
Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. Google is founded in 1998. In 1999,
the music and video piracy controversy intensifies with the launch of Napster. The
first internet virus capable of copying and sending itself to a user’s address book is
discovered in 1999.

2000S Timeline highlighting the 2000s section

2000 sees the rise and burst of the dotcom bubble. While myriad internet-based
businesses become present in everyday life, the Dow Jones industrial average also
sees its biggest one-day drop in history up to that point. By 2001, most publicly
traded dotcom companies are gone. It’s not all bad news, though; the 2000s see
Google’s meteoric rise to domination of the search engine market. This decade also
sees the rise and proliferation of Wi-Fi — wireless internet communication — as well
as mobile internet devices like smartphones and, in 2005, the first-ever internet cat
video.