- 12,298
- Ealing-London
History of the Internet - A Timeline
1836
-- Telegraph.
Cooke and Wheatstone patent it.
Why is this relevant?
* Revolutionised human (tele)communications.
* Morse Code a series of dots and dashes used to communicate between humans. This is not a million miles away from how computers communicate via (binary 0/1) data today. Although it is much slower!!
1858-1866
-- Transatlantic cable.
o Allowed direct instantaneous communication across the atlantic.
Why is this relevant?
* Today, cables connect all continents and are still a main hub of telecommunications.
1876
-- Telephone.
o Alexander Graham Bell Exhibits.
Why is this relevant?
* Telephones exchanges provide the backbone of Internet connections today.
* Modems provide Digital to Audio conversions to allow computers to connect over the telephone network.
1957
-- USSR launches Sputnik
o First artificial earth satellite.
Why is this relevant?
* The start of global telecommunications. Satellites play an important role in transmitting all sorts of data today.
* In response, US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the military.
1962 - 1968
-- Packet-switching (PS) networks developed.
Why is this relevant?
* As we will see later the Internet relies on packets to transfer data.
* The origin is military : for utmost security in transferring information of networks (no single outage point).
* Data is split into tiny packets that may take different routes to a destination.
* Hard to eavesdrop on messages.
* More than one route available -- if one route goes down another may be followed.
* Networks can withstand large scale destruction (Nuclear attack - This was the time of the Cold War).
1969
-- Birth of Internet
ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking.
Why is this relevant?
* First node at UCLA (Los Angeles) closely followed by nodes at Stanford Research Institute, UCSB (Santa Barbara) and U of Utah (4 Nodes).
1970
o First publication of the original ARPANET Host-Host protocol: C.S. Carr, S. Crocker, V.G. Cerf, "HOST-HOST Communication Protocol in the ARPA Network," in AFIPS Proceedings of SJCC.
o First report on ARPANET at AFIPS: "Computer Network Development to Achieve Resource Sharing" (March).
o ALOHAnet, the first packet radio network, developed by Norman Abramson, Univ of Hawaii, becomes operational (July)
connected to the ARPANET in 1972.
o ARPANET hosts start using Network Control Protocol (NCP), first host-to-host protocol.
o First cross-country link installed by AT&T between UCLA and BBN at 56kbps. This line is later replaced by another between BBN and RAND. A second line is added between MIT and Utah.
1971
-- People communicate over a network.
o 15 nodes (23 hosts) on ARPANET.
o E-mail invented -- a program to send messages across a distributed network.
Why is this relevant?
* E-mail is still the main way of inter-person communication on the Internet today.
* You will make extensive use of E-mail for the rest of your life.
1972
-- Computers can connect more freely and easily.
o First public demonstration of ARPANET between 40 machines.
o Internetworking Working Group (INWG) created to address need for establishing agreed upon protocols.
Why is this relevant?
* Telnet specification.
* Telnet is still a relevant means of inter-machine connection today.
1973
-- Global Networking becomes a reality.
o First international connections to the ARPANET: University College of London (England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway).
o Ethernet outlined -- this how local networks are basically connected today.
o Internet ideas started.
o Gateway architecture sketched on back of envelope in hotel lobby in San Francisco. Gateways define how large networks (maybe of different architecture) can be connected together.
o File Transfer protocol specified -- how computers send and receive data.
1974
-- Packets become mode of transfer.
o Transmission Control Program (TCP) specified. Packet network Intercommunication -- the basis of Internet Communication.
o Telenet, a commercial version of ARPANET, opened -- the first public packet data service.
1975
o Operational management of Internet transferred to DCA (now DISA).
o First ARPANET mailing list, MsgGroup, is created by Steve Walker. Einar Stefferud soon took over as moderator as the list was not automated at first. A science fiction list, SF-Lovers, was to become the most popular unofficial list in the early days.
o John Vittal develops MSG, the first all-inclusive email program providing replying, forwarding, and filing capabilities.
o Satellite links cross two oceans (to Hawaii and UK) as the first TCP tests are run over them by Stanford, BBN, and UCL.
o "Jargon File", by Raphael Finkel at SAIL, first released.
1976
-- Networking comes to many.
o Queen Elizabeth sends out an e-mail.
o UUCP (Unix-to-Unix CoPy) developed at AT&T Bell Labs and distributed with UNIX.
Why is this relevant?
* UNIX was and still is the main operating system used by universities and research establishments.
* These machines could now ``talk'' over a network.
* Networking exposed to many users worldwide.
1977
-- E-mail takes off, Internet becomes a reality.
o Number of hosts breaks 100.
o THEORYNET provides electronic mail to over 100 researchers in computer science (using a locally developed E-mail system and TELENET for access to server).
o Mail specification.
o First demonstration of ARPANET/Packet Radio Net/SATNET operation of Internet protocols over gateways.
1978
o TCP split into TCP and IP (March)
1979
-- News Groups born.
o Computer Science Department research computer network established in USA.
o USENET established using UUCP.
Why is this relevant?
* USENET still thrives today.
* A collection of discussions groups, news groups.
* 3 news groups established by the end of the year.
* Almost any topic now has a discussion group.
o First MUD (Multiuser Dungeon) -- interactive multiuser sites. o Interactive adventure games, board games, rich and detailed databases.
o ARPA establishes the Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB).
o Packet Radio Network (PRNET) experiment starts with ARPA funding. Most communications take place between mobile vans.
1980
o ARPANET grinds to a complete halt on 27 October because of an accidentally-propagated status-message virus.
o First C/30-based IMP at BBN.
o The first virus attacks!
1981
-- Things start to come together.
o BITNET, the "Because It's Time NETwork" Started as a cooperative network at the City University of New York, with the first connection to Yale.
* Provides electronic mail and listserv servers to distribute information, as well as file transfers.
o CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) established to provide networking services (specially E-mail) to university scientists with no access to ARPANET. CSNET later becomes known as the Computer and Science Network.
o IBM releases its Personal Computer (PC).
1982
-- TCP/IP defines future communication.
o DCA and ARPA establishes the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), as the protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, for ARPANET.
Why is this relevant?
* Leads to one of the first definitions of an internet as a connected set of networks, specifically those using TCP/IP, and Internet as connected TCP/IP internets.
o EUnet (European UNIX Network) is created by EUUG to provide E-mail and USENET services. Original connections between the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and UK.
o External Gateway Protocol specification -- EGP is used for gateways between (different architecture) networks.
1983
-- Internet gets bigger.
o Name server developed at University of Wisconsin.
Why is this relevant?
* No longer requiring users to know the exact path to other systems
* Large number of nodes.
* Hard to remember exact paths.
* Use meaningful names instead.
o Desktop workstations come into being.
Why is this relevant?
* Many with Berkeley UNIX which includes IP networking software.
* Need switches from having a single, large time sharing computer connected to Internet per site, to connection of an entire local network.
o Internet Activities Board (IAB) established, replacing ICCB
Berkeley releases new version of UNIX 4.2BSD incorporating TCP/IP.
o EARN (European Academic and Research Network) established on similar lines to BITNET.
1984
-- Growth of Internet Continues.
o Number of hosts breaks 1,000.
o Domain Name Server (DNS) introduced.
* instead of 123.456.789.10
* it is easier to remember something like
www.myuniversity.mydept.mynetwork.mycountry
( e.g. www.cs.cf.ac.uk).
o JANET (Joint Academic Network) established in the UK
Moderated newsgroups introduced on USENET.
o Canada begins a one-year effort to network its universities. The NetNorth Network is connected to BITNET in Ithaca from Toronto.
1985
o Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL) started.
o Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at USC is given responsibility for DNS root management by DCA, and SRI for DNS NIC registrations.
o Symbolics.com is assigned on 15 March to become the first registered domain. Other firsts: cmu.edu, purdue.edu, rice.edu, berkeley.edu, ucla.edu, rutgers.edu, bbn.com (24 Apr); mit.edu (23 May); think.com (24 may); css.gov (June); mitre.org, .uk (July).
o 100 years to the day of the last spike being driven on the cross-Canada railroad, the last Canadian university is connected to NetNorth in a one year effort to have coast-to-coast connectivity.
1986
-- Power of Internet Realised.
o 5, 000 Hosts. 241 News groups.
o NSFNET created (backbone speed of 56 Kbps).
o NSF establishes 5 super-computing centers to provide high-computing power for all -- This allows an explosion of connections, especially from universities.
o Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) designed to enhance Usenet news performance over TCP/IP.
1987
-- Commercialisation of Internet Born.
o Number of hosts 28,000.
o Number of BITNET hosts breaks 1,000.
o UUNET is founded with Usenix funds to provide commercial UUCP and Usenet access.
1988
-- NSFNET backbone upgraded to T1 (1.544 Mbps).
o Internet Relay Chat (IRC) developed.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Canada (CA), Denmark (DK), Finland (FI), France (FR), Iceland (IS), Norway (NO), Sweden (SE).
1989
-- Large growth in Internet.
o Number of hosts breaks 100,000.
o First relays between a commercial electronic mail carrier and the Internet.
o Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) comes into existence under the IAB.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Australia (AU), Germany (DE), Israel (IL), Italy (IT), Japan (JP), Mexico (MX), Netherlands (NL), New Zealand (NZ), Puerto Rico (PR), United Kingdom (UK).
1990
-- Expansion of Internet continues.
o 300,000 Hosts. 1,000 News groups.
o ARPANET ceases to exist.
o Archie released files can be searched and retrieved (FTP) by name.
o The World comes on-line (world.std.com), becoming the first commercial provider of Internet dial-up access.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Argentina (AR), Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Brazil (BR), Chile (CL), Greece (GR), India (IN), Ireland (IE), Korea (KR), Spain (ES), Switzerland (CH).
1991
-- Modernisation Begins.
o Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) Association, Inc. formed after NSF lifts restrictions on the commercial use of the Net.
o Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS).
Why is relevant?
* Provides a mechanism for indexing and accessing information on the Internet.
* Large bodies of knowledge available: E-mail messages, text, electronic books, Usenet articles, computer code, image, graphics, sound files, databases etc..
* These form the basis of the index of information we see on WWW today.
* Powerful search techniques implemented. Keyword search.
-- Friendly User Interface to WWW established.
o Gopher released by Paul Lindner and Mark P. McCahill from the U of Minnesota.
Why is relevant?
* Text based, menu-driven interface to access internet resources.
* No need to remember or even know complex computer command. User Friendly Interface (?).
* Largely superseded by WWW, these days.
-- Most Important development to date.
o World-Wide Web (WWW) released by CERN; Tim Berners-Lee developer.
Why is relevant?
* Originally developed to provide a distributed hypermedia system.
* Easy access to any form of information anywhere in the world.
* Initially non-graphic (this came later, MOSAIC, 1993).
* Revolutionised modern communications and even our, way of life (?).
o The free Linux operating system is born.
o NSFNET backbone upgraded to T3 (44.736 Mbps).
o NSFNET traffic passes 1 trillion bytes/month
and 10 billion packets/month.
o Start of JANET IP Service (JIPS) using TCP/IP within the UK academic network.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Croatia (HR), Czech Republic (CZ), Hong Kong (HK), Hungary (HU), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Singapore (SG), South Africa (ZA), Taiwan (TW), Tunisia (TN).
1992
-- Multimedia changes the face of the Internet.
o Number of hosts breaks 1 Million. News groups 4,000.
o Internet Society (ISOC) is chartered.
o First MBONE audio multicast (March) and video multicast (November).
o The term "Surfing the Internet" is coined by Jean Armour Polly.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Antarctica (AQ), Cameroon (CM), Cyprus (CY), Ecuador (EC), Estonia (EE), Kuwait (KW), Latvia (LV), Luxembourg (LU), Malaysia (MY), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Thailand (TH), Venezuela (VE).
1993
-- The WWW Revolution truly begins.
o Number of Hosts 2 Million. 600 WWW sites.
o InterNIC created by NSF to provide specific Internet services:
* directory and database services
* registration services
* information services.
o Business and Media really take notice of the Internet.
o US White House and United Nations (UN) comes on-line.
o Mosaic takes the Internet by storm.
Why is this relevant?
* User Friendly Graphical Front End to the World Wide Web.
* Develops into Netscape -- most popular WWW browser to date.
o Worms of a new kind find their way around the Net - WWW Worms (W4), joined by Spiders, Wanderers, Crawlers, and Snakes ...
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Bulgaria (BG), Costa Rica (CR), Egypt (EG), Fiji (FJ), Ghana (GH), Guam (GU), Indonesia (ID), Kazakhstan (KZ), Kenya (KE), Liechtenstein (LI), Peru (PE), Romania (RO), Russian Federation (RU), Turkey (TR), Ukraine (UA), UAE (AE), US Virgin Islands (VI).
1994
-- Commercialisation begins.
o Number of Hosts 3 Million. 10,000 WWW sites. 10,000 News groups.
o ARPANET/Internet celebrates 25th anniversary
o Local communities begin to be wired up directly to the Internet (Lexington and Cambridge, Mass., USA).
o US Senate and House provide information servers
o Shopping malls, banks arrive on the Internet
* A new way of life.
* You can now order pizza from the Hut online in the US.
* First Virtual, the first cyberbank, open up for business.
o NSFNET traffic passes 10 trillion bytes/month.
o WWW edges out telnet to become 2nd most popular service on the Net (behind ftp-data) based on % of packets and bytes traffic distribution on NSFNET
o UK's HM Treasury on-line (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/)
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Algeria (DZ), Armenia (AM), Bermuda (BM), Burkina Faso (BF), China (CN), Colombia (CO), Jamaica (JM), Jordan (JO), Lebanon (LB), Lithuania (LT), Macao (MO), Morocco (MA), New Caledonia (NC), Nicaragua (NI), Niger (NE), Panama (PA), Philippines (PH), Senegal (SN), Sri Lanka (LK), Swaziland (SZ), Uruguay (UY), Uzbekistan (UZ).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, edu, uk, gov, de, ca, mil, au, org, net
1995
-- Commercialisation continues apace.
o 6.5 Million Hosts, 100,000 WWW Sites.
o NSFNET reverts back to a research network. Main US backbone traffic now routed through interconnected network providers.
o WWW surpasses ftp-data in March as the service with greatest traffic on NSFNet based on packet count, and in April based on byte count.
o Traditional online dial-up systems (Compuserve, America Online, Prodigy) begin to provide Internet access.
o A number of Net related companies go public, with Netscape leading the pack.
o Registration of domain names is no longer free.
o The Vatican comes on-line
(www.vatican.va/)
o The Canadian Government comes on-line (canada.gc.ca/)
o Technologies of the Year: WWW, Search engines (WAIS development).
o New WWW technologies Emerge Technologies
* Mobile code (JAVA, JAVAscript, ActiveX),
* Virtual environments (VRML),
* Collaborative tools (CU-SeeMe)
* RealAudio (forerunner to RealVideo) is born.
o Country domains registered: Ethiopia (ET), Cote d'Ivoire (CI), Cook Islands (CK) Cayman Islands (KY), Anguilla (AI), Gibraltar (GI), Vatican (VA), Kiribati (KI), Kyrgyzstan (KG), Madagascar (MG), Mauritius (MU), Micronesia (FM), Monaco (MC), Mongolia (MN), Nepal (NP), Nigeria (NG), Western Samoa (WS), San Marino (SM), Tanzania (TZ), Tonga (TO), Uganda (UG), Vanuatu (VU).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, edu, net, gov, mil, org, de, uk, ca, au
1996
-- Microsoft enters.
o 12.8 Million Hosts, 0.5 Million WWW Sites.
o Internet phones catch the attention of US. telecommunication companies who ask the US Congress to ban the technology (which has been around for years).
o The WWW browser war begins , fought primarily between Netscape and Microsoft, has rushed in a new age in software development, whereby new releases are made quarterly with the help of Internet users eager to test upcoming (beta) versions.
o Country domains registered: Qatar (QA), Central frican Republic (CF), Oman (OM), Norfolk Island (NF), Tuvalu (TV), French Polynesia (PF), Syria (SY), Aruba (AW), Cambodia (KH), French Guiana (GF), Eritrea (ER), Cape Verde (CV), Burundi (BI), Benin (BJ) Bosnia-Herzegovina (BA), Andorra (AD), Guadeloupe (GP), Guernsey (GG), Isle of Man (IM), Jersey (JE), Lao (LA), Maldives (MV), Marshall Islands (MH), Mauritania (MR), Northern Mariana Islands (MP), Rwanda (RW), Togo (TG), Yemen (YE), Zaire (ZR).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, edu, net, uk, de, jp, us, mil, ca, au
o Technologies of the Year: Search engines, JAVA, Internet Phone
o Emerging Technologies: Virtual environments (VRML), Collaborative tools, Internet appliance (Network Computer)
1997
-- What Next?
o 20+ Million Hosts.
o 1+ Million WWW sites.
o 71,618 Newsgroups [mailing lists registered at Liszt, a mailing list directory].
o 2000th RFC: "Internet Official Protocol Standards"
o The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is established to handle administration and registration of IP numbers to the geographical areas currently handled by Network Solutions (InterNIC), starting March 1998.
o Country domains registered: Falkland Islands (FK), East Timor (TP), R of Congo (CG), Christmas Island (CX), Gambia (GM), Guinea-Bissau (GW), Haiti (HT), Iraq (IQ), Libya (LY), Malawi (MW), Martinique (MQ), Montserrat (MS), Myanmar (MM), French Reunion Island (RE), Seychelles (SC), Sierra Leone (SL), Somalia (SO), Sudan (SD), Tajikistan (TJ), Turkmenistan (TM), Turks and Caicos Islands (TC), British Virgin Islands (VG), Heard and McDonald Islands (HM), French Southern Territories (TF), British Indian Ocean Territory (IO), Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (SJ), St Pierre and Miquelon (PM), St Helena (SH), South Georgia/Sandwich Islands (GS), Sao Tome and Principe (ST), Ascension Island (AC), US Minor Outlying Islands (UM), Mayotte (YT), Wallis and Futuna Islands (WF), Tokelau Islands (TK), Chad Republic (TD), Afghanistan (AF), Cocos Island (CC), Bouvet Island (BV), Liberia (LR), American Samoa (AS), Niue (NU), Equatorial New Guinea (GQ), Bhutan (BT), Pitcairn Island (PN), Palau (PW), DR of Congo (CD).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, edu, net, jp, uk, de, us, au, ca, mil
o Technologies of the Year: Push, Multicasting
o Emerging Technologies: Push
1998
o Netscape releases the source code for its Netscape Navigator browswer to the public domain.
o Microsoft releases Windows 98. Months later the government orders Microsoft to change its Java virtual machine to pass Sun's Java compatibility test.
o Microsoft is taken to court for allegations of anti-trust violations.
o Country domains registered: Nauru (NR), Comoros (KM).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, net, edu, mil, jp, us, uk ,de, ca, au
o Technologies of the Year: E-Commerce, E-Auctions, Portals
o Emerging Technologies: E-Trade, XML, Intrusion Detection
1999
o Internet access becomes available to the Saudi Arabian (.sa) public in January.
o IBM becomes the first Corporate partner to be approved for Internet2 access.
o European Parliament proposes banning the caching of Web pages by ISPs.
o The Internet Fiesta kicks off in March across Europe, building on the success of La Fête de l'Internet held in 1998.
o US State Court rules that domain names are property that may be garnished.
o First large-scale Cyberwar takes place simultaneously with the war in Serbia/Kosovo.
o The Web becomes the focal point of British politics as a list of MI6 agents is released on a UK Web site. Though forced to remove the list from the site, it was too late as the list had already been replicated across the Net. (15 May).
o DoD issues a memo requiring all US military systems to connect via NIPRNET, and not directly to the Internet by 15 Dec 1999 (22 Aug).
o Free computers are all the rage (as long as you sign a long term contract for Net service).
o .ps is registered to Palestine (11 Oct).
o Top 10 TLDs by Host #: com, net, edu, jp, uk, mil, us, de, ca, au
o Technologies of the Year: E-Trade, Online Banking, MP3
o Emerging Technologies: Net-Cell Phones, Thin Computing, Embedded Computing
o Viruses of the Year: Melissa (March), ExploreZip (June)
2000
o The US timekeeper (USNO) and a few other time services around the world report the new year as 19100 on 1 Jan
o A massive denial of service attack is launched against major web sites, including Yahoo, Amazon, and eBay in early February.
o Web size estimates by NEC-RI and Inktomi surpass 1 billion indexable pages.
o ICANN redelegates the .pn domain, returning it to the Pitcairn Island community (February).
o A testbed allowing the registration of domain names in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean begins operation on 9 November. This testbed, created by VeriSign without IETF authorization, only allows the second-level domain to be non-English, still forcing use of .com, .net, .org. The Chinese government blocks internal registrations, stating that registrations in Chinese are its sovereignty right.
o ICANN selects new TLD's:
.aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .pro (16 Nov)
o After months of legal proceedings, the French court rules Yahoo! must block French users from accessing hate memorabilia in its auction site (Nov). Given its inability to provide such a block on the Internet, Yahoo! removes those auctions entirely (Jan 2001).
o Australian government endorses the transfer of authority for the .au domain to auDA (18 Dec). ICANN signs over control to auDA on 26 Oct 2001.
o Technologies of the Year: ASP, Napster
o Emerging Technologies: Wireless devices, IPv6
o Viruses of the Year: Love Letter (May)
o Lawsuits of the Year: Napster, DeCSS
2001
o GTPlanet.net was founded and officially registered on January 25
o The first live distributed musical -- The Technophobe & The Madman -- over Internet2 networks debuts on 20 Feb
o VeriSign extends its multilingual domain testbed to encompass various European languages (26 Feb), and later the full Unicode character set (5 Apr) opening up most of the world's languages.
o Forwarding email in Australia becomes illegal with the passing of the Digital Agenda Act, as it is seen as a technical infringement of personal copyright (4 Mar).
o Radio stations broadcasting over the Web go silent over actor royalty disputes (10 Apr).
o US Dept of Commerce issues a notice of intent on 6 April to turn over management for the .edu domain from VeriSign to Educause. Award agreement is reached on 29 October. Community colleges are finally be able to register under .edu
o Napster keeps finding itself embroiled in litigation and is eventually forced to suspend service; it comes back later in the year as a subscription service.
o European Council finalizes an international cybercrime treaty on 22 June and adopts it on 9 November. This is the first treaty addressing criminal offenses committed over the Internet.
o .biz and .info are added to the root server on 27 June with registrations beginning in July. .biz domain go live on 7 Nov.
o Afghanistan's Taliban bans Internet access country-wide, including from Government offices, in an attempt to control content (13 Jul).
o Code Red worm and Sircam virus infiltrate thousands of web servers and email accounts, respectively, causing a spike in Internet bandwidth usage and security breaches (July).
o .museum begins resolving (Nov).
o First uncompressed real-time gigabit HDTV transmission across a wide-area IP network takes place on Internet2 (12 Nov).
o .us domain operational responsibility assumed by NeuStar (20 Nov).
o Viruses of the Year: Code Red (Jul), Nimda (Sep), SirCam (Jul), BadTrans (Apr, Nov)
o Emerging Technologies: Grid Computing, P2P
2002
o US ISP Association (USISPA) is created from the former CIX (11 Jan)
o .name begins resolving (15 Jan).
o .coop registrations begin (30 Jan).
o .aero registrations begin 18 March and beings resolving 2 September
o Federally recognized US Indian tribes become eligible to register under .gov (26 Apr).
o Hundreds of Internet radio stations observe a Day of Silence in protest of proposed song royalty rate increases (1 May).
o Having your own Blog becomes hip.
o A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack struck the 13 DNS root servers knocking out all but 5 (21-23 Oct). Amidst national security concerns, VeriSign hastens a planned relocation of one of its two DNS root servers.
o A new US law creates a kids-safe "dot-kids" domain (kids.us) to be implemented in 2003 (3 Dec).
2003
o Public Interest Registry (PIR) takes over as .org registry operator on 1 Jan. Transition is completed on 27 Jan. By giving up .org, VeriSign is able to retain control over .com domains
o The first official Swiss online election takes place in Anières (7 Jan).
o The SQL Slammer worm causes one of the largest and fastest spreading DDoS attacks ever. Taking roughly 10 minutes to spread worldwide, the worm took down 5 of the 13 DNS root servers along with tens of thousands of other servers, and impacted a multitude of systems ranging from (bank) ATM systems to air traffic control to emergency (911) systems (25 Jan).
Very interesting i thought. Does anyone have info for post 2003?
1836
-- Telegraph.
Cooke and Wheatstone patent it.
Why is this relevant?
* Revolutionised human (tele)communications.
* Morse Code a series of dots and dashes used to communicate between humans. This is not a million miles away from how computers communicate via (binary 0/1) data today. Although it is much slower!!
1858-1866
-- Transatlantic cable.
o Allowed direct instantaneous communication across the atlantic.
Why is this relevant?
* Today, cables connect all continents and are still a main hub of telecommunications.
1876
-- Telephone.
o Alexander Graham Bell Exhibits.
Why is this relevant?
* Telephones exchanges provide the backbone of Internet connections today.
* Modems provide Digital to Audio conversions to allow computers to connect over the telephone network.
1957
-- USSR launches Sputnik
o First artificial earth satellite.
Why is this relevant?
* The start of global telecommunications. Satellites play an important role in transmitting all sorts of data today.
* In response, US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the military.
1962 - 1968
-- Packet-switching (PS) networks developed.
Why is this relevant?
* As we will see later the Internet relies on packets to transfer data.
* The origin is military : for utmost security in transferring information of networks (no single outage point).
* Data is split into tiny packets that may take different routes to a destination.
* Hard to eavesdrop on messages.
* More than one route available -- if one route goes down another may be followed.
* Networks can withstand large scale destruction (Nuclear attack - This was the time of the Cold War).
1969
-- Birth of Internet
ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking.
Why is this relevant?
* First node at UCLA (Los Angeles) closely followed by nodes at Stanford Research Institute, UCSB (Santa Barbara) and U of Utah (4 Nodes).
1970
o First publication of the original ARPANET Host-Host protocol: C.S. Carr, S. Crocker, V.G. Cerf, "HOST-HOST Communication Protocol in the ARPA Network," in AFIPS Proceedings of SJCC.
o First report on ARPANET at AFIPS: "Computer Network Development to Achieve Resource Sharing" (March).
o ALOHAnet, the first packet radio network, developed by Norman Abramson, Univ of Hawaii, becomes operational (July)
connected to the ARPANET in 1972.
o ARPANET hosts start using Network Control Protocol (NCP), first host-to-host protocol.
o First cross-country link installed by AT&T between UCLA and BBN at 56kbps. This line is later replaced by another between BBN and RAND. A second line is added between MIT and Utah.
1971
-- People communicate over a network.
o 15 nodes (23 hosts) on ARPANET.
o E-mail invented -- a program to send messages across a distributed network.
Why is this relevant?
* E-mail is still the main way of inter-person communication on the Internet today.
* You will make extensive use of E-mail for the rest of your life.
1972
-- Computers can connect more freely and easily.
o First public demonstration of ARPANET between 40 machines.
o Internetworking Working Group (INWG) created to address need for establishing agreed upon protocols.
Why is this relevant?
* Telnet specification.
* Telnet is still a relevant means of inter-machine connection today.
1973
-- Global Networking becomes a reality.
o First international connections to the ARPANET: University College of London (England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway).
o Ethernet outlined -- this how local networks are basically connected today.
o Internet ideas started.
o Gateway architecture sketched on back of envelope in hotel lobby in San Francisco. Gateways define how large networks (maybe of different architecture) can be connected together.
o File Transfer protocol specified -- how computers send and receive data.
1974
-- Packets become mode of transfer.
o Transmission Control Program (TCP) specified. Packet network Intercommunication -- the basis of Internet Communication.
o Telenet, a commercial version of ARPANET, opened -- the first public packet data service.
1975
o Operational management of Internet transferred to DCA (now DISA).
o First ARPANET mailing list, MsgGroup, is created by Steve Walker. Einar Stefferud soon took over as moderator as the list was not automated at first. A science fiction list, SF-Lovers, was to become the most popular unofficial list in the early days.
o John Vittal develops MSG, the first all-inclusive email program providing replying, forwarding, and filing capabilities.
o Satellite links cross two oceans (to Hawaii and UK) as the first TCP tests are run over them by Stanford, BBN, and UCL.
o "Jargon File", by Raphael Finkel at SAIL, first released.
1976
-- Networking comes to many.
o Queen Elizabeth sends out an e-mail.
o UUCP (Unix-to-Unix CoPy) developed at AT&T Bell Labs and distributed with UNIX.
Why is this relevant?
* UNIX was and still is the main operating system used by universities and research establishments.
* These machines could now ``talk'' over a network.
* Networking exposed to many users worldwide.
1977
-- E-mail takes off, Internet becomes a reality.
o Number of hosts breaks 100.
o THEORYNET provides electronic mail to over 100 researchers in computer science (using a locally developed E-mail system and TELENET for access to server).
o Mail specification.
o First demonstration of ARPANET/Packet Radio Net/SATNET operation of Internet protocols over gateways.
1978
o TCP split into TCP and IP (March)
1979
-- News Groups born.
o Computer Science Department research computer network established in USA.
o USENET established using UUCP.
Why is this relevant?
* USENET still thrives today.
* A collection of discussions groups, news groups.
* 3 news groups established by the end of the year.
* Almost any topic now has a discussion group.
o First MUD (Multiuser Dungeon) -- interactive multiuser sites. o Interactive adventure games, board games, rich and detailed databases.
o ARPA establishes the Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB).
o Packet Radio Network (PRNET) experiment starts with ARPA funding. Most communications take place between mobile vans.
1980
o ARPANET grinds to a complete halt on 27 October because of an accidentally-propagated status-message virus.
o First C/30-based IMP at BBN.
o The first virus attacks!
1981
-- Things start to come together.
o BITNET, the "Because It's Time NETwork" Started as a cooperative network at the City University of New York, with the first connection to Yale.
* Provides electronic mail and listserv servers to distribute information, as well as file transfers.
o CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) established to provide networking services (specially E-mail) to university scientists with no access to ARPANET. CSNET later becomes known as the Computer and Science Network.
o IBM releases its Personal Computer (PC).
1982
-- TCP/IP defines future communication.
o DCA and ARPA establishes the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), as the protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, for ARPANET.
Why is this relevant?
* Leads to one of the first definitions of an internet as a connected set of networks, specifically those using TCP/IP, and Internet as connected TCP/IP internets.
o EUnet (European UNIX Network) is created by EUUG to provide E-mail and USENET services. Original connections between the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and UK.
o External Gateway Protocol specification -- EGP is used for gateways between (different architecture) networks.
1983
-- Internet gets bigger.
o Name server developed at University of Wisconsin.
Why is this relevant?
* No longer requiring users to know the exact path to other systems
* Large number of nodes.
* Hard to remember exact paths.
* Use meaningful names instead.
o Desktop workstations come into being.
Why is this relevant?
* Many with Berkeley UNIX which includes IP networking software.
* Need switches from having a single, large time sharing computer connected to Internet per site, to connection of an entire local network.
o Internet Activities Board (IAB) established, replacing ICCB
Berkeley releases new version of UNIX 4.2BSD incorporating TCP/IP.
o EARN (European Academic and Research Network) established on similar lines to BITNET.
1984
-- Growth of Internet Continues.
o Number of hosts breaks 1,000.
o Domain Name Server (DNS) introduced.
* instead of 123.456.789.10
* it is easier to remember something like
www.myuniversity.mydept.mynetwork.mycountry
( e.g. www.cs.cf.ac.uk).
o JANET (Joint Academic Network) established in the UK
Moderated newsgroups introduced on USENET.
o Canada begins a one-year effort to network its universities. The NetNorth Network is connected to BITNET in Ithaca from Toronto.
1985
o Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL) started.
o Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at USC is given responsibility for DNS root management by DCA, and SRI for DNS NIC registrations.
o Symbolics.com is assigned on 15 March to become the first registered domain. Other firsts: cmu.edu, purdue.edu, rice.edu, berkeley.edu, ucla.edu, rutgers.edu, bbn.com (24 Apr); mit.edu (23 May); think.com (24 may); css.gov (June); mitre.org, .uk (July).
o 100 years to the day of the last spike being driven on the cross-Canada railroad, the last Canadian university is connected to NetNorth in a one year effort to have coast-to-coast connectivity.
1986
-- Power of Internet Realised.
o 5, 000 Hosts. 241 News groups.
o NSFNET created (backbone speed of 56 Kbps).
o NSF establishes 5 super-computing centers to provide high-computing power for all -- This allows an explosion of connections, especially from universities.
o Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) designed to enhance Usenet news performance over TCP/IP.
1987
-- Commercialisation of Internet Born.
o Number of hosts 28,000.
o Number of BITNET hosts breaks 1,000.
o UUNET is founded with Usenix funds to provide commercial UUCP and Usenet access.
1988
-- NSFNET backbone upgraded to T1 (1.544 Mbps).
o Internet Relay Chat (IRC) developed.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Canada (CA), Denmark (DK), Finland (FI), France (FR), Iceland (IS), Norway (NO), Sweden (SE).
1989
-- Large growth in Internet.
o Number of hosts breaks 100,000.
o First relays between a commercial electronic mail carrier and the Internet.
o Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) comes into existence under the IAB.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Australia (AU), Germany (DE), Israel (IL), Italy (IT), Japan (JP), Mexico (MX), Netherlands (NL), New Zealand (NZ), Puerto Rico (PR), United Kingdom (UK).
1990
-- Expansion of Internet continues.
o 300,000 Hosts. 1,000 News groups.
o ARPANET ceases to exist.
o Archie released files can be searched and retrieved (FTP) by name.
o The World comes on-line (world.std.com), becoming the first commercial provider of Internet dial-up access.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Argentina (AR), Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Brazil (BR), Chile (CL), Greece (GR), India (IN), Ireland (IE), Korea (KR), Spain (ES), Switzerland (CH).
1991
-- Modernisation Begins.
o Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) Association, Inc. formed after NSF lifts restrictions on the commercial use of the Net.
o Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS).
Why is relevant?
* Provides a mechanism for indexing and accessing information on the Internet.
* Large bodies of knowledge available: E-mail messages, text, electronic books, Usenet articles, computer code, image, graphics, sound files, databases etc..
* These form the basis of the index of information we see on WWW today.
* Powerful search techniques implemented. Keyword search.
-- Friendly User Interface to WWW established.
o Gopher released by Paul Lindner and Mark P. McCahill from the U of Minnesota.
Why is relevant?
* Text based, menu-driven interface to access internet resources.
* No need to remember or even know complex computer command. User Friendly Interface (?).
* Largely superseded by WWW, these days.
-- Most Important development to date.
o World-Wide Web (WWW) released by CERN; Tim Berners-Lee developer.
Why is relevant?
* Originally developed to provide a distributed hypermedia system.
* Easy access to any form of information anywhere in the world.
* Initially non-graphic (this came later, MOSAIC, 1993).
* Revolutionised modern communications and even our, way of life (?).
o The free Linux operating system is born.
o NSFNET backbone upgraded to T3 (44.736 Mbps).
o NSFNET traffic passes 1 trillion bytes/month
and 10 billion packets/month.
o Start of JANET IP Service (JIPS) using TCP/IP within the UK academic network.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Croatia (HR), Czech Republic (CZ), Hong Kong (HK), Hungary (HU), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Singapore (SG), South Africa (ZA), Taiwan (TW), Tunisia (TN).
1992
-- Multimedia changes the face of the Internet.
o Number of hosts breaks 1 Million. News groups 4,000.
o Internet Society (ISOC) is chartered.
o First MBONE audio multicast (March) and video multicast (November).
o The term "Surfing the Internet" is coined by Jean Armour Polly.
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Antarctica (AQ), Cameroon (CM), Cyprus (CY), Ecuador (EC), Estonia (EE), Kuwait (KW), Latvia (LV), Luxembourg (LU), Malaysia (MY), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Thailand (TH), Venezuela (VE).
1993
-- The WWW Revolution truly begins.
o Number of Hosts 2 Million. 600 WWW sites.
o InterNIC created by NSF to provide specific Internet services:
* directory and database services
* registration services
* information services.
o Business and Media really take notice of the Internet.
o US White House and United Nations (UN) comes on-line.
o Mosaic takes the Internet by storm.
Why is this relevant?
* User Friendly Graphical Front End to the World Wide Web.
* Develops into Netscape -- most popular WWW browser to date.
o Worms of a new kind find their way around the Net - WWW Worms (W4), joined by Spiders, Wanderers, Crawlers, and Snakes ...
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Bulgaria (BG), Costa Rica (CR), Egypt (EG), Fiji (FJ), Ghana (GH), Guam (GU), Indonesia (ID), Kazakhstan (KZ), Kenya (KE), Liechtenstein (LI), Peru (PE), Romania (RO), Russian Federation (RU), Turkey (TR), Ukraine (UA), UAE (AE), US Virgin Islands (VI).
1994
-- Commercialisation begins.
o Number of Hosts 3 Million. 10,000 WWW sites. 10,000 News groups.
o ARPANET/Internet celebrates 25th anniversary
o Local communities begin to be wired up directly to the Internet (Lexington and Cambridge, Mass., USA).
o US Senate and House provide information servers
o Shopping malls, banks arrive on the Internet
* A new way of life.
* You can now order pizza from the Hut online in the US.
* First Virtual, the first cyberbank, open up for business.
o NSFNET traffic passes 10 trillion bytes/month.
o WWW edges out telnet to become 2nd most popular service on the Net (behind ftp-data) based on % of packets and bytes traffic distribution on NSFNET
o UK's HM Treasury on-line (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/)
o Countries connecting to NSFNET: Algeria (DZ), Armenia (AM), Bermuda (BM), Burkina Faso (BF), China (CN), Colombia (CO), Jamaica (JM), Jordan (JO), Lebanon (LB), Lithuania (LT), Macao (MO), Morocco (MA), New Caledonia (NC), Nicaragua (NI), Niger (NE), Panama (PA), Philippines (PH), Senegal (SN), Sri Lanka (LK), Swaziland (SZ), Uruguay (UY), Uzbekistan (UZ).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, edu, uk, gov, de, ca, mil, au, org, net
1995
-- Commercialisation continues apace.
o 6.5 Million Hosts, 100,000 WWW Sites.
o NSFNET reverts back to a research network. Main US backbone traffic now routed through interconnected network providers.
o WWW surpasses ftp-data in March as the service with greatest traffic on NSFNet based on packet count, and in April based on byte count.
o Traditional online dial-up systems (Compuserve, America Online, Prodigy) begin to provide Internet access.
o A number of Net related companies go public, with Netscape leading the pack.
o Registration of domain names is no longer free.
o The Vatican comes on-line
(www.vatican.va/)
o The Canadian Government comes on-line (canada.gc.ca/)
o Technologies of the Year: WWW, Search engines (WAIS development).
o New WWW technologies Emerge Technologies
* Mobile code (JAVA, JAVAscript, ActiveX),
* Virtual environments (VRML),
* Collaborative tools (CU-SeeMe)
* RealAudio (forerunner to RealVideo) is born.
o Country domains registered: Ethiopia (ET), Cote d'Ivoire (CI), Cook Islands (CK) Cayman Islands (KY), Anguilla (AI), Gibraltar (GI), Vatican (VA), Kiribati (KI), Kyrgyzstan (KG), Madagascar (MG), Mauritius (MU), Micronesia (FM), Monaco (MC), Mongolia (MN), Nepal (NP), Nigeria (NG), Western Samoa (WS), San Marino (SM), Tanzania (TZ), Tonga (TO), Uganda (UG), Vanuatu (VU).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, edu, net, gov, mil, org, de, uk, ca, au
1996
-- Microsoft enters.
o 12.8 Million Hosts, 0.5 Million WWW Sites.
o Internet phones catch the attention of US. telecommunication companies who ask the US Congress to ban the technology (which has been around for years).
o The WWW browser war begins , fought primarily between Netscape and Microsoft, has rushed in a new age in software development, whereby new releases are made quarterly with the help of Internet users eager to test upcoming (beta) versions.
o Country domains registered: Qatar (QA), Central frican Republic (CF), Oman (OM), Norfolk Island (NF), Tuvalu (TV), French Polynesia (PF), Syria (SY), Aruba (AW), Cambodia (KH), French Guiana (GF), Eritrea (ER), Cape Verde (CV), Burundi (BI), Benin (BJ) Bosnia-Herzegovina (BA), Andorra (AD), Guadeloupe (GP), Guernsey (GG), Isle of Man (IM), Jersey (JE), Lao (LA), Maldives (MV), Marshall Islands (MH), Mauritania (MR), Northern Mariana Islands (MP), Rwanda (RW), Togo (TG), Yemen (YE), Zaire (ZR).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, edu, net, uk, de, jp, us, mil, ca, au
o Technologies of the Year: Search engines, JAVA, Internet Phone
o Emerging Technologies: Virtual environments (VRML), Collaborative tools, Internet appliance (Network Computer)
1997
-- What Next?
o 20+ Million Hosts.
o 1+ Million WWW sites.
o 71,618 Newsgroups [mailing lists registered at Liszt, a mailing list directory].
o 2000th RFC: "Internet Official Protocol Standards"
o The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is established to handle administration and registration of IP numbers to the geographical areas currently handled by Network Solutions (InterNIC), starting March 1998.
o Country domains registered: Falkland Islands (FK), East Timor (TP), R of Congo (CG), Christmas Island (CX), Gambia (GM), Guinea-Bissau (GW), Haiti (HT), Iraq (IQ), Libya (LY), Malawi (MW), Martinique (MQ), Montserrat (MS), Myanmar (MM), French Reunion Island (RE), Seychelles (SC), Sierra Leone (SL), Somalia (SO), Sudan (SD), Tajikistan (TJ), Turkmenistan (TM), Turks and Caicos Islands (TC), British Virgin Islands (VG), Heard and McDonald Islands (HM), French Southern Territories (TF), British Indian Ocean Territory (IO), Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (SJ), St Pierre and Miquelon (PM), St Helena (SH), South Georgia/Sandwich Islands (GS), Sao Tome and Principe (ST), Ascension Island (AC), US Minor Outlying Islands (UM), Mayotte (YT), Wallis and Futuna Islands (WF), Tokelau Islands (TK), Chad Republic (TD), Afghanistan (AF), Cocos Island (CC), Bouvet Island (BV), Liberia (LR), American Samoa (AS), Niue (NU), Equatorial New Guinea (GQ), Bhutan (BT), Pitcairn Island (PN), Palau (PW), DR of Congo (CD).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, edu, net, jp, uk, de, us, au, ca, mil
o Technologies of the Year: Push, Multicasting
o Emerging Technologies: Push
1998
o Netscape releases the source code for its Netscape Navigator browswer to the public domain.
o Microsoft releases Windows 98. Months later the government orders Microsoft to change its Java virtual machine to pass Sun's Java compatibility test.
o Microsoft is taken to court for allegations of anti-trust violations.
o Country domains registered: Nauru (NR), Comoros (KM).
o Top 10 Domains by Host #: com, net, edu, mil, jp, us, uk ,de, ca, au
o Technologies of the Year: E-Commerce, E-Auctions, Portals
o Emerging Technologies: E-Trade, XML, Intrusion Detection
1999
o Internet access becomes available to the Saudi Arabian (.sa) public in January.
o IBM becomes the first Corporate partner to be approved for Internet2 access.
o European Parliament proposes banning the caching of Web pages by ISPs.
o The Internet Fiesta kicks off in March across Europe, building on the success of La Fête de l'Internet held in 1998.
o US State Court rules that domain names are property that may be garnished.
o First large-scale Cyberwar takes place simultaneously with the war in Serbia/Kosovo.
o The Web becomes the focal point of British politics as a list of MI6 agents is released on a UK Web site. Though forced to remove the list from the site, it was too late as the list had already been replicated across the Net. (15 May).
o DoD issues a memo requiring all US military systems to connect via NIPRNET, and not directly to the Internet by 15 Dec 1999 (22 Aug).
o Free computers are all the rage (as long as you sign a long term contract for Net service).
o .ps is registered to Palestine (11 Oct).
o Top 10 TLDs by Host #: com, net, edu, jp, uk, mil, us, de, ca, au
o Technologies of the Year: E-Trade, Online Banking, MP3
o Emerging Technologies: Net-Cell Phones, Thin Computing, Embedded Computing
o Viruses of the Year: Melissa (March), ExploreZip (June)
2000
o The US timekeeper (USNO) and a few other time services around the world report the new year as 19100 on 1 Jan
o A massive denial of service attack is launched against major web sites, including Yahoo, Amazon, and eBay in early February.
o Web size estimates by NEC-RI and Inktomi surpass 1 billion indexable pages.
o ICANN redelegates the .pn domain, returning it to the Pitcairn Island community (February).
o A testbed allowing the registration of domain names in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean begins operation on 9 November. This testbed, created by VeriSign without IETF authorization, only allows the second-level domain to be non-English, still forcing use of .com, .net, .org. The Chinese government blocks internal registrations, stating that registrations in Chinese are its sovereignty right.
o ICANN selects new TLD's:
.aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .pro (16 Nov)
o After months of legal proceedings, the French court rules Yahoo! must block French users from accessing hate memorabilia in its auction site (Nov). Given its inability to provide such a block on the Internet, Yahoo! removes those auctions entirely (Jan 2001).
o Australian government endorses the transfer of authority for the .au domain to auDA (18 Dec). ICANN signs over control to auDA on 26 Oct 2001.
o Technologies of the Year: ASP, Napster
o Emerging Technologies: Wireless devices, IPv6
o Viruses of the Year: Love Letter (May)
o Lawsuits of the Year: Napster, DeCSS
2001
o GTPlanet.net was founded and officially registered on January 25
o The first live distributed musical -- The Technophobe & The Madman -- over Internet2 networks debuts on 20 Feb
o VeriSign extends its multilingual domain testbed to encompass various European languages (26 Feb), and later the full Unicode character set (5 Apr) opening up most of the world's languages.
o Forwarding email in Australia becomes illegal with the passing of the Digital Agenda Act, as it is seen as a technical infringement of personal copyright (4 Mar).
o Radio stations broadcasting over the Web go silent over actor royalty disputes (10 Apr).
o US Dept of Commerce issues a notice of intent on 6 April to turn over management for the .edu domain from VeriSign to Educause. Award agreement is reached on 29 October. Community colleges are finally be able to register under .edu
o Napster keeps finding itself embroiled in litigation and is eventually forced to suspend service; it comes back later in the year as a subscription service.
o European Council finalizes an international cybercrime treaty on 22 June and adopts it on 9 November. This is the first treaty addressing criminal offenses committed over the Internet.
o .biz and .info are added to the root server on 27 June with registrations beginning in July. .biz domain go live on 7 Nov.
o Afghanistan's Taliban bans Internet access country-wide, including from Government offices, in an attempt to control content (13 Jul).
o Code Red worm and Sircam virus infiltrate thousands of web servers and email accounts, respectively, causing a spike in Internet bandwidth usage and security breaches (July).
o .museum begins resolving (Nov).
o First uncompressed real-time gigabit HDTV transmission across a wide-area IP network takes place on Internet2 (12 Nov).
o .us domain operational responsibility assumed by NeuStar (20 Nov).
o Viruses of the Year: Code Red (Jul), Nimda (Sep), SirCam (Jul), BadTrans (Apr, Nov)
o Emerging Technologies: Grid Computing, P2P
2002
o US ISP Association (USISPA) is created from the former CIX (11 Jan)
o .name begins resolving (15 Jan).
o .coop registrations begin (30 Jan).
o .aero registrations begin 18 March and beings resolving 2 September
o Federally recognized US Indian tribes become eligible to register under .gov (26 Apr).
o Hundreds of Internet radio stations observe a Day of Silence in protest of proposed song royalty rate increases (1 May).
o Having your own Blog becomes hip.
o A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack struck the 13 DNS root servers knocking out all but 5 (21-23 Oct). Amidst national security concerns, VeriSign hastens a planned relocation of one of its two DNS root servers.
o A new US law creates a kids-safe "dot-kids" domain (kids.us) to be implemented in 2003 (3 Dec).
2003
o Public Interest Registry (PIR) takes over as .org registry operator on 1 Jan. Transition is completed on 27 Jan. By giving up .org, VeriSign is able to retain control over .com domains
o The first official Swiss online election takes place in Anières (7 Jan).
o The SQL Slammer worm causes one of the largest and fastest spreading DDoS attacks ever. Taking roughly 10 minutes to spread worldwide, the worm took down 5 of the 13 DNS root servers along with tens of thousands of other servers, and impacted a multitude of systems ranging from (bank) ATM systems to air traffic control to emergency (911) systems (25 Jan).
Very interesting i thought. Does anyone have info for post 2003?
