[ih] A revolution in Internet point-of-view - Was Re: Internet analyses (Was Re: IPv8...)

[Greg Skinner]

On Apr 29, 2026, at 6:13 AM, Andrew Sullivan via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> 
> Tempted as I am to editorialize about what this might mean for the Internet (I am profoundly depressed about it), I wonder whether those who where involved in the Internet's earliest developments have any reflections on the attitudes of the societies at the time.  For instance, kc claffy once observed to me that it was an inspired bit of industrial policy that led the USG (partly it seems to me at the prodding of Al Gore, despite all the grief he gets about the topic) to give away the Internet rather than lock it into any particular corporate ownership.  I know there is another thread that has discussed the BSD-TCP/IP importance, but I guess I'm asking for something different: was there a different _social_ environment, in your estimation and upon reflection, than there is (say) today such that the USG could give such a technology away as they did?  I find it impossible to imagine that happening today, when every organization either public or private seems to be orieted entirely towards maximum short-term financial return on investment, ignoring the longer term benefits.  (And, to avoid any doubt, let me be clear that this is not a particular swipe at the current USG or any people in charge of it.  This has seemed obvious to me for a decade or more.)
> 

I would also include the Linux importance. [1] [2] Quite a bit of TCP/IP became available via open source due to Linux.

--gregbo

[1] https://www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/
[2] http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/