Now that the historical importance of the Internet is clear, many people are stepping up to claim credit. During his presidential campaign in 2000, for example, Al Gore was criticized for claiming that he "took the initiative" in the invention of the Internet. This leads to an interesting question about alternate versions of history. How do different eyewitnesses interpret how the Net began? Search the Web for different versions or go directly to the Internet Society's History of the Internet link at www.isoc.org/internet/history/.*
Industry
Web Excursion
The Internet is growing so quickly that statistics change by the minute. If you had to guess, how many people would you say used the Net in the last 30 days? How many now have access to an ISP at home? What is the total number of URLs worldwide? How many of these are .com domain names? Search the Web for these statistics or go directly to a site dedicated to them such as www.mediamark.com* or http://www.webconfs.com/domain-stats.php.* Report on your findings.
Controversies
Web Excursion
What are your thoughts about censorship on the Internet? Should pornography be censored? How about hate sites or instructions on how to build bombs? Search the Web for Internet censorship issues or go directly to the UCLA Online Institute for cyberspace Law and Policy at www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/hp.html.* Find the links for the latest developments in cyberlaw. In your opinion, do these developments represent too much censorship or are they steps in the right direction? Explain.
*Some Web site addresses may change. When they do, please search for the Web site by name or topic on your favorite search engine.
