The origin of the internet was not a network of computers and people like it is today. 1990 happened to be the year the internet went mainstream, but the US government had the technology 30 years before. They used it as a simple packet-switching device for messages. It was called Arpanet. The pentagon had it banned for private or commercial purposes. Even MIT during the 1980s announced that “Sending electronic messages over the ARPAnet for commercial purposes is both antisocial and illegal.” The internet would’ve evolved much further than what it is today without institutional gatekeeping. It is what it is. The internet grew to what it is because–like flowers to insects, art to artists–open sourced protocols attract collaborators. Invisible hands spin their own webs and the market finds a way.
