The internet is a global computer network connecting millions and millions of users throughout the world. (Leiner, 2). It has become one of the fastest growing forms of communication today. (Marshall, 1).

The Internet started as a Defense Department Cold War experiment in the 1950's. (Academic American, 225). The government needed a way to relay information between tanks and headquarters so the APRA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) sought a way to let signals from the battlefield reach a headquarters computer using satellites and radio signals. At the same time the command posts of the nation were located deep underground in mountains in fear of nuclear war. (Diamond, 3). Paul Baran, working for the U.S. Air Force, developed a network that could reroute itself around damage caused by the impact of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile by using "redundancy of connectivity". This meant that in the event of a break in the network the server would re-route the information in an alternate path through a new technique called "packet switching". Packet Switching is a means of breaking up the message being sent into small packets which carry enough information to seek out its desti

Blom, Eric. "Ruts in Rural Info Highway." Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, ME). CD

Jan./Feb. 1998: pp. 46-50. In Social Issues Resource Series, Inc. Internet,

After the development and merger of APRAnet and usenet the internet began to grow exponentially. (Diamond, 11). The internet evolved from a small government project to the fastest growing form of communication it is today. (Blom, 2)

Diamond, Edwin and Stephen Bates. "The Ancient History of the Internet."

When it first started APRAnet was limited mainly to military business by the APRA but soon scientists began to use it to collaborate on research through e-mail. Not long after the first mailing list appeared called SF-LOVERS. The APRA repeatedly shut the growing number of mailing lists down but gave up after a while calling it a way to "test the networks mail capacity." The APRAnet as it was now called began to grow and by the '80's it began to link to other college and government networks. NSFnet (national science foundation network) and the newly founded usenet were among the first to be connected. These links began the "APRAinternet" later called just the internet. The internet grew rapidly over time and began to ease out of government ownership and into privately owned routes. In 1990 APRAnet was shut down but by this time the internet had become completely public and no longer relied on the original APRAnet. (Diamond, 6). It however still used the TCP/IP technology developed by Cerf. (Academic American, 225)

nation and sen

Some common words found in the essay are:
Duke University, Packet Switching, SF-LOVERS APRA, Cerf APRA, Projects Agency, Development Internet, Academic American, Ballistic Missile, Protocol/Internet Protocol, Father Internet, mailing lists, academic american, packet switching, social issues resource, fastest growing, information travel, history internet, connected apranet, phone lines, event break, issues resource series, academic american 225, resource series inc, controversial newsgroups,
Approximate Word count = 1029
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)