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Succeeding in School

The History Of The Internet Leads To The Future

13 January 2021

Isabella Bennett

It is common knowledge that things you use every day get taken for granted. You wake up and expect to have power to your house and running water. Millions also start their morning on their phone or computer and accessing the Internet in some fashion.

The Beginnings

The start of what we know of cyberspace dates back to the 1950s, during the Cold War. It began as an experiment for the military and was designed to help with nuclear war threats. Paul Baran, a researcher with RAND Corp, had an idea for a network. However, it was disputed as too radical and never built. The technology remained. Over the years, technicians designed various circuit and packet switching ideas to distribute information over a great distance. After Sputnik was released into orbit in 1957, projects began to take off, and we ended with the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network or ARPANET.

ARPANET was a network that shared information across a network. It was complicated and groundbreaking. In attempts at simplifying, sub-nets and mini-computers were linked together through a host. The entire process took roughly five years to perfect and be usable. Due to the great success of this system, the explorations of further uses of this technology began.

Phase One: TCP/IP Networks

The first phase of the Internet as we know it was ten years long, 1973 to roughly 1983. This system was later known as the TCP/IP based network. Professors and researchers at universities around the nation began looking for ways to transition ARPANET into something that could be used by the masses. After some trial and error, the project took off in 1973 using new protocols and networks. TCP/IP is a networking style that allows anyone to use the Internet if they were able to connect to the network. They began with using analog or dial-up connections. Unfortunately, this led to many concerns about security, so adjustments were made to the project. Thus, beginning the process of releasing it to the public.

Phase Two: Commercialization

Between the years 1983 and 1995, the network technology was restricted to only universities and the military. As more companies could afford subscription fees to access the network, Internet access began to grow rapidly. By 1990, it was agreed to privatize the civilian portion of the Internet and allow commercial Internet Service Providers to offer the package. While it was purchased through providers, the Internet quickly became a place for people to run businesses. The initial boom occurred the first five years it was available to the public. The connection was still extremely slow and only available through a dial-up, but people now could store, retrieve, and communicate with people virtually. Very few people believed the Internet would amount to anything. That all changed as the Internet moved into higher-speed connections, or Web 2.0 as it is now referred to.

What started as a military experiment has taken us further than we can ever imagine as a world. People can communicate, share resources, and run businesses through the Internet. With the changes, one thing remains a problem with the commercialization: keeping people safe with cookies, phishing, and search engine programs. With the vast number of users online, meeting the demands and expectations is a constant battle. How they decide to fight against cyber crimes and bullying will detail the future success of the Internet.

Talk to an education provider to learn more about the commercialization of the Internet.

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