The internet as we know it doesn’t exist until much later, but internet history

starts in the 1960s. In 1962, MIT computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider comes up
with the idea for a global computer network. He later shares his idea with
colleagues at the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA). Work by Leonard Kleinrock, Thomas Merrill and Lawrence G.
Roberts on packet-switching theory pioneers the way to the world’s first wide-
area computer network. Roberts later goes on to publish a plan for the
ARPANET, an ARPA-funded computer network that becomes a reality in 1969.
Over the following years, the ARPANET grows.
In 1973, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf collaborate to develop a protocol for
linking multiple networks together. This later becomes the Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), a technology that links multiple networks
together such that, if one network is brought down, the others do not collapse.
While working at Xerox, Robert Metcalfe develops a system using cables that
allows for transfer of more data over a network. He names this system Alto
Aloha, but it later becomes known as Ethernet. Over the next few years, Ted
Nelson proposes using hypertext to organize network information, and Unix
becomes popular for TCP/IP networks. Tom Truscott and Steve Bellovin develop
a Unix-based system for transferring data over phone lines via a dial-up
connection. This system becomes USENET.
Dave Farber of the University of Delaware reveals a project to build an
inexpensive network using dial-up phone lines. In 1982, the PhoneNet system is
established and is connected to ARPANET and the first commercial network,
Telenet. This broadens access to the internet and allows for email
communication between multiple nations of the world. In 1981, Metcalfe’s
company 3Com announces Ethernet products for both computer workstations
and personal computers; this allows for the establishment of local area networks
(LANs). Paul Mockapetris, Jon Postel and Craig Partridge create the Domain
Name system, which uses domain names to manage the increasing number of
users on the internet. In 1985, the first domain is registered: symbolics.com, a
domain belonging to a computer manufacturer.
In 1990, ARPANET is decommissioned. Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues at
CERN develop hypertext markup language (HTML) and the uniform resource
locator (URL), giving birth to the first incarnation of the World Wide Web. A
watershed year for the internet comes in 1995: Microsoft launches Windows 95;
Amazon, Yahoo and eBay all launch; Internet Explorer launches; and Java is
created, allowing for animation on websites and creating a new flurry of internet
activity. In 1996, Congress passes the Communications Decency Act in an effort
to combat the growing amount of objectionable material on the internet. John
Perry Barlow responds with an essay, A Declaration of the Independence of
Cyberspace. Google is founded in 1998. In 1999, the music and video piracy
controversy intensifies with the launch of Napster. The first internet virus capable
of copying and sending itself to a user’s address book is discovered in 1999.
2000 sees the rise and burst of the dotcom bubble. While myriad internet-based
businesses become present in everyday life, the Dow Jones industrial average
also sees its biggest one-day drop in history up to that point. By 2001, most
publicly traded dotcom companies are gone. It’s not all bad news, though; the
2000s see Google’s meteoric rise to domination of the search engine market.
This decade also sees the rise and proliferation of Wi-Fi — wireless internet
communication — as well as mobile internet devices like smartphones and, in
2005, the first-ever internet cat video.