1958 – There is no Internet.

1962 – Advanced Research Projects Agency is founded. They developed a small

network(ARPANET).

1969 – ARPANET connects first four universities in U.S.

1974 – Bolt, Beranek and Newman opens Telenet, the first commercial version of the ARPANET.

1976 – Queen Elizabeth goes online with the first royal email message.

1982 – The term "Internet" is used for the first time.

1984 – Number of hosts exceeds 1000.

1993 – Mosaic, the first graphics-based Web browser, becomes available.

1995 – A new computer language, Java, allows the Internet to come to life with

movement, animation and interactive capabilities.

1999 – Thousands and Thousands using the Internet.

2000 – The Internet is over 30 years old!

2002 – Millions and millions of users!!!

The Internet has changed much in the decades since it came into existence. It was conceived in the era of time-sharing, but has survived into the era of personal computers, client-server and peer-to-peer computing, and the network computer. It was designed before LANs existed, but has accommodated that new network technology, as well as the more recent ATM and frame switched services. It was has spawned electronic mail and more recently the World Wide Web. But most important, it started as the creation of a small band of dedicated researchers, and has grown to be a commercial success with billions of dollars of annual investment.

The Internet has a number of striking features. It is instantaneous, immediate, worldwide, decentralised, interactive, and endlessly expandable in contents and outreach, flexible and adaptable to a remarkable degree. It is egalitarian, in the sense that anyone with the necessary equipment and modest technical skill can be an active presence in cyberspace, declare his or her message to the world, and demand a hearing. It allows individuals to indulge in anonymity, role-playing, and fantasising and also to enter into community with others and engage in sharing. It can be used to break down the isolation of individuals and groups or to deepen it.

The technological configuration underlying the Internet has a considerable bearing on its ethical aspects: People have tended to use it according to the way it was designed, and to design it to suit that kind of use. An idealistic vision of the free exchange of information and ideas has played a praiseworthy part in the development of the Internet. Yet its decentralised configuration and the similarly decentralised design of the World Wide Web of the late 1980s also proved to be congenial to a mindset opposed to anything smacking of legitimate regulation for public responsibility. An exaggerated individualism regarding the Internet thus emerged. Here, it was said, was a new realm, the marvellous land of cyberspace, where every sort of expression was allowed and the only law was total individual liberty to do as one pleased.