[ih] Politics behind the Internet

[Miles Fidelman]

Craig Partridge via Internet-history wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 21, 2024 at 7:59 PM Jack Haverty via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> IIRC, there was little talk of "spreading" either politically or
>> economically.  Simply put, there was no relevant audience reachable
>> through the networks.   All users were internal, working on or for
>> government projects.
>>
>>
> I broadly agree with Jack but will disagree in one element - it wasn't all
> inward focused on ARPA funded folks.  By 1980, computer science programs in
> the United States noticed that departments that had ARPANET access were
> experiencing greater research success, in part because it was easier to
> collaborate with other researchers.  This led to the notion of providing
> email and (limited) TCP/IP access to the Internet via CSNET, which was set
> up as a joint DARPA-NSF program in 1981.  Broadly, that worked -- by 1986,
> over 150 universities and research labs (such as HP Labs) were on CSNET, to
> which you have to add the many universities directly on ARPANET.
> Essentially, any top 100 and most top 200 research universities in the US
> were on ARPANET or CSNET.
>
> Thus when NSF was looking for a way to supercharge computing and research
> in STEM, with supercomputers and network access, CSNET showed how that
> could work.
>
The magic of the Internet, is that it grew by demand-pull, from the 
beginning.  The ARPANET was created to reduce comms costs for 
researchers - who were basically told to spend their communications 
budgets on ARPANET connectivity - forcing universities to start building 
campus networks.  Then non-ARPA-funded researchers saw the value their 
colleagues were getting from connectivity - and demanded that NSF, and 
DOE, and NASA, and ... build networks for them - and the program 
managers involved did something very unlike government program managers 
- they connected their networks instead of building their own fiefdoms 
(and they let their users design and build the various networks).  
Government contractors discovered that they needed to be plugged in, and 
found ways to get connectivity. Graduating students needed connectivity 
- if only to email with potential employers.

Barry Shein set up the World.  I started reselling TELENET services.  
NEARNET was built, largely with user funding - hence not subject to 
"government only" traffic restrictions (Prospect Hill allowed a 
microwave dish on their roof, in return for a connection to their campus 
network).

And it all just happened.

And then the marketeers stepped in, and started rebuilding a world of 
walled gardens, designed to capture markets, instead of fostering 
communication & collaboration.  And now we find ourselves in today's 
mess - where connectivity & interoperability are no longer the core 
values & virtues of the net.

Sigh...

Miles Fidelman

-- 
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.  .... Yogi Berra

Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
In our lab, theory and practice are combined:
nothing works and no one knows why.  ... unknown