Mailing Lists Of Apranet example essay topic

History and Development of the Internet 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 destination and sending them out separately towards the destination server. The message after being broken up would take separate routes to the destination and then be re-assembled by the computer at the server where the message was being sent. This was good because with more than one route for information to travel on, the enemy did not have one central point to target their attack to break the lines of communication and in the event of some break in the line information could still travel through. (Diamond, 4). This all interested the APRA enough to fund the research and development of an experimental computer network with hopes of demonstrating the feasibility of remote computer operation from the battlefield.

Vinton Cerf also called 'The Father of the Internet', a graduate student working at UCLA began to take interest in the 4 node APRAnet, and in 1973 developed the first TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) software. (Leiner, 4). TCP / IP software converts messages into streams, transmits them across different nodes or networks, and reassembles them at the destination point. In 1977 Cerf began working for APRA and played a major part in the first long distance packet switching network in which a computer in the back of a moving van sent packets through radio, satellite, and landline to a computer 94,000 miles away. This was the point when the military really began to take interest in the project.

(Diamond, 5) 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. NSF net (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) Usenet was a network similar to APRAnet created by graduate students and faculty members of the University of North Caroline and Duke University, who had seen APRAnet but were unable to access the government created and controlled network.

The structure of usenet mimicked the mailing lists of APRAnet but was designed like a bulletin board to store messages onto one accessible computer rather than send them to each individual mailbox like the APRAnet mailing lists. Another difference was that in usenet the nodes were not directly connected like APRAnet but used phone lines to transfer information. Messages on the early usenet would take up to a week to reach all of the nodes due to slow modems (300 bit per second) and poor phone lines and in some cases would take even longer (messages were airmailed weekly to Australia on magnetic tape). By 1987 usenet had grown considerable and linked to 5,000 sites and carried an average of 1,000 messages per day. (Diamond, 11). Later that year usenet was connected to APRAnet, however usenet users were looked down by the scientists and government officials on APRAnet.

The number of newsgroups on usenet began to expand and so did the variety of newsgroup content. In 1987 the operators of the usenet backbone computers had to create a different hierarchy to house the controversial newsgroups (until this point net. had held everything). Some systems had refused to carry the controversial newsgroups like net. rec. drugs so the '. alt' (alternative) hierarchy was created. (Diamond, 12) 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)

Bibliography

Internet. ' Academic American Encyclopedia. 1996.
Diamond, Edwin and Stephen Bates. 'The Ancient History of the Internet. ' American Heritage. Oct. 1995: pp.
34+. In Social Issues Resource Series, Inc. History- Article #17. Blom, Eric. 'Ruts in Rural Info Highway. ' Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, ME). CD News bank. 12 April 1998.
Mash all, Joshua Micah. 'Will Free Speech Get Tangled in the Net?' American Prospect. Jan. /Feb. 1998: pp.
46-50. Internet, Censorship- Article #1. Leiner, Barry. 'A Brief History of the Internet. ' 17 December 1998.