[ih] How TCP and the Internet "won" outside of the US?

[John Demco]

Jack,

For a version of the history of networking in Canada see this short book 
entitled “A Nation Goes Online” 
https://www.canarie.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Publication-A-Nation-Goes-Online.pdf

It was published in 2001, if I remember correctly, and the Internet 
begins rising to prominence in Chapter 4.

Regards,
John Demco


On 2024-07-24 1:23 p.m., Jack Haverty via Internet-history wrote:
> On 7/23/24 10:16, Gergely Buday via Internet-history wrote:
>> Russia does not like the open Internet as they did not like Radio Free
>> Europe.
>>
>> - Gergely
>
> I've always been curious about the adoption of the TCP-based Internet 
> as it spread outside the US.
>
> Inside the US, the Internet, and TCP, was characterized as "an 
> Experiment".   It might provide research insights, but the "real" next 
> generation system was being aggressively developed by big 
> corporations, perhaps to evolve into some kind of OSI standards-based 
> data communications infrastructure for the world - much as the 
> telephone, telegraph, postal, and other such older global 
> communications infrastructures had evolved.
>
> The perception of the Internet as just "an experiment" made it of 
> little relevance to the competitors, both corporations and standards 
> bodies, that were battling to define the actual next generation. Thus, 
> as just an Experiment,  the Internet got little attention from 
> corporate or political interests.   It grew on its own and likely 
> surprised a lot of people when it exploded and dominated, especially 
> through the 1990s after the Web appeared and provided content and 
> services interesting to the general public.
>
> I've always assumed that the Internet grew outside the US much as it 
> had grown inside.   But is that true?
>
> So my question is --- How was the Internet received by the political 
> and commercial interests in other countries?   Was it viewed as a 
> threat, or ignored as irrelevant?  In the US, IIRC a lot of big 
> companies were blindsided by the sudden (to them) emergence of the 
> Internet and TCP.
>
> But elsewhere?  For a country that "does not like the open Internet", 
> when did they realize that, and what did they do about it?
>
> Any recollections, pointers to literature, etc.?
>
> Jack Haverty
>
>