The internet is everywhere.
Let’s be honest, the only reason you’re reading this is because of the internet. The World Wide Web has become intrinsic to our current lives.
And today, November 21st is considered the birth of the internet1.
While it would be another 22 years before the World Wide Web opened up to public use2, on November 21st, 1969, DARPA programmers established the very first permanent network link between UCLA and Stanford Research Institute. This link grew out of a project named ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network).
Around for over two decades, ARPANET created the base for the internet that we know today.
ARPANET would be decommissioned on February 28, 1990, but not before giving us the TCP/IP protocol, the password protection algorithm, and the File Transfer Protocols (FTP) that are still in use today3.
ARPANET took the first baby steps towards the world wide web that we have, literally, in our pockets today.
In honor of that first permanent connection, we say “Happy Birthday, Internet,” and have a piece of cookie cake in its honor.
References
1. The Birth of the Internet. (2017, November 21). Retrieved from http://thisdayintechhistory.com/11/21/the-birth-of-the-internet/
2. Bryant, M. (2016, March 03). 20 years ago today, the World Wide Web was born - TNW Insider. Retrieved from https://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/08/06/20-years-ago-today-the-world-wide-web-opened-to-the-public/
3. ARPANET. (2018, October 25). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET