[ih] How the Soviet Union Sent Its First Man to the Internet in 1982

[Joly MacFie]

https://globalvoices.org/2015/12/29/how-the-soviet-union-sent-its-first-man-to-the-internet-in-1982/

(excerpt)

The terminal used by Klyosov to join the conference was a Soviet ES-EVM
computer <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ES_EVM>(designed from blueprints
stolen from IBM). It was connected to the only modem supposed to officially
exist in all of the USSR: an antediluvian 360 baud/s device. In comparison,
this device had a capacity 22 times less than the old 56k modems that were
widely used in the early 2000s: the text display rate on the 360 baud/s
modem was of one letter per second.
This precious modem was protected by a security presence so impressive that
Klyosov later wrote he had not seen such since his childhood, when he lived
with his parents on the Kapustin Yar missile test polygon
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapustin_Yar> under Stalin.
[image: An EVM ES-1033 computer with control panel. These were developed in
the USSR in the 1970s-1980s. Image courtesy of computer-museum.ru.]

An EVM ES-1033 computer with control panel. These were developed in the
USSR in the 1970s-1980s. Image courtesy of computer-museum.ru.

Surrounded by many soldiers, the computer room itself was empty. So when
Klyosov logged in for the first time, he was alone when these words
appeared on the screen: “You are connected to the University of Stockholm
server. Welcome.”

Once logged in, Klyosov was free to talk and exchange any information he
wanted, without any state control. Neither the fact that the computer room
was surrounded by military guards, nor the fact that Klyosov was forbidden
from going abroad had any influence. We can imagine how the situation
created by this single connected Soviet computer and its only user might
seem paradoxical. Just remember that the Soviet Union in the early 1980s
remained a heavily cloistered state, with the authorities attempting at all
costs to stop the transfer to the West of any kind of “dissident” cultural
products (samizdat publications among them). In such a context, Klyosov’s
case was truly exceptional.

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Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
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