Re: Media myths (Was Townsend)

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyross.com>]

On 15 Jan 2003 at 1:25, Joseph Pappalardo wrote:

> I don't recall newspaper 'headlines' or news reports saying "Al Gore
> claims to have invented Internet!"

When the story originally broke, it was that Al Gore said something like, "As a member of 
Congress, I took the lead in creating the Internet."  The Republicans ridiculed this by saying 
that the Internet started in 1969.  After that, newspapers, even supposedly liberal papers like 
the Globe, repeatedly stated, as reportorial fact, that Gore claimed to have "invented" the 
Internet.

I've never been entirely clear on the history of the Internet.  I believe that what started in 1969 
was a hookup of defense-related and academic computers called the "ARPAnet."  I've seen 
what this stands for, but I can't remember.   I think I read recently that the term "Internet" 
first began to appear in the 1980s.  The key change I believe was made in the early 1990s, 
when the net was opened to the general public by act of Congress.  And I believe it is true 
that Al Gore was a leader in pushing for this and pushing for the funding to develop the net.  
Which was all he ever claimed.

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
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