Genesis of Internet 🌐⌛

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The Internet has revolutionised the digital world like nothing else before. The invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio and computer paved the way for this unprecedented integration. The Internet is both a worldwide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for distributing information, and a means of collaboration, of interaction between people and their computers, regardless of geographical location.

It is present in our daily lives and we can no longer do without it. But what is the internet and how did it come into being? This is what we will try to understand in the following article.

Internet: a global communication network

The Internet is defined as a set of interconnected global networks that allow computers and servers to communicate efficiently. Its users are referred to by the neologism « Internet user ».

Internet: the origins

Have you ever heard of the « ARPANET »?

ARPANET is the first packet transfer network developed in the United States by DARPA, the project was launched in 1967 and the first official demonstration was in October 1972. It is the predecessor of the Internet.

The network had two main purposes: to exchange information between universities and the military, and to experiment with packet data transmission techniques.

Expansion of the Internet

In the mid-1970s, other types of networks were emerging, in particular corporate local area networks. It was felt that it would be interesting to link all these networks, regardless of their respective technologies, to provide a global network service. Two protocols were developed: TCP (transport control protocol) and IP (Internet protocol). These were implemented on the Arpanet network, which became the basis of the Internet in the early 1980s. The military part separated from the network and was called Milnet. The university part, taking advantage of the research efforts of the N.S.F. (National Science Foundation) to connect its powerful computers to the network, merged with the NSFnet and was called the Internet.

To facilitate the adoption of the TCP and IP protocols, DARPA subsidised their integration into the Unix operating system, which was mainly used by universities. This created a ripple effect throughout the global scientific community, as these protocols provided a network service independent of manufacturers, hardware architecture and operating systems.

In the early 1990s, the Internet arrived in Europe, South East Asia and Australia. At the same time, commercial use of the Internet began with the arrival of the first Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Internet distribution

The Internet is now being developed by private operators, as only large companies can connect directly to it via permanent links. The cost of these links is such that individuals or small companies connect via the telephone network or cable, thanks to Internet service providers. These providers have computers that are connected to the Internet on the one hand and to the telephone network or broadcasting networks on the other. A computer user only needs a conventional modem or a high-speed ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line) modem and a subscription to an ISP to be connected to the Internet. When the ISP offers additional services to its customers (advice on managing customers’ networks, help in obtaining Internet addresses, mailboxes, web page hosting, directory), it is called an Internet service provider.

Today the Internet is popularised and used worldwide and has many advantages:

• In particular, it allows us to communicate with our loved ones more easily, especially with the advent of social networks.
• Thanks to the internet it is easier to have fun with online video games, movies on demand…
• The Internet is an immense source of knowledge. With its unlimited stock of online information, journals, academic essays, dictionaries…
• Today it is even possible to make money from the internet.

However, if misused, the internet can also be a danger, especially for young people:

• Social networks, which are certainly a means of communication par excellence today, can also lead to addiction and detachment from the real world. The more you are absorbed in the virtual world, the more difficult it is to meet people and interact socially – « Head Down Generation » as some say.
• The Internet offers a lot of entertainment, but are they all appropriate especially for children and the elderly?
• Although being an almost unlimited source of information, we are now facing more and more misinformation through the internet. We also face more intellectual laziness (why read a book to understand subjects and get solutions if I can get the solution directly from the internet?)
• The internet is a great place to make money, but you can also lose money, have your personal data stolen, and be a victim of malicious people.

Although the Internet is indispensable and useful in everyday life and despite all its advantages, it is still important to use the Internet intelligently, to be informed in order to avoid certain dangers and especially to protect the youngest ones because just as nuclear energy is used to destroy as well as to produce electricity, the Internet can both help us and be an immense danger.

The question is how to protect oneself from the dangers of the internet and how to avoid its traps?

Sources : Techno-Science, Internet Society