| Internet
The Internet originated in 1969, in the midst of the Cold War, as a
"nuke-proof" communications network. As you might guess, it received most
of its early financing from the U.S. defense department. Now, however, it
consists of countless networks and computers across the world that allow
millions of people to share information. The lines that carry the majority
of the information are know as the Internet backbone. While the government
used to run things, now major Internet service providers (ISPs) such as
MCI, GTE, Sprint, UUNET, and ANS own portions of the backbone--a good
thing as they have the motivation and the revenue to maintain the quality
of these large networks. For answers to commonly asked questions about the
Internet, check out our recent feature: "20 questions: how the Net works." |