A comprehensive and fascinating overview of the philosophy and history of the Internet.

Many related links and a section on pertinent statistics. Magellan Internet Guide

Net History with a Human Face

Chapter 1. Road 1: USA toEurope

Information Age Milestones 1866:" In the beginning was the Cable..."

The Atlantic cable of 1858 was established to carry instantaneous communications across the ocean for the first time. Although the laying of this first cable was seen as a landmark event in society, it was a technical failure. It only remained in service a few days. Subsequent cables laid in 1866 were completely successful and compare to events like the moon landing of a century later... the cable ... remained in use for almost 100 years.
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

A brief look from 1997: Annual percentage growth rate of data traffic on undersea telephone cables: 90 Number of miles of undersea telephone cables: 186,000 Source: WinTreese

1957: Sputnik has launched ARPA

President Dwight D. Eisenhower saw the need for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) after the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of Sputnik. 1957 - October 4th - the USSR launches Sputnik, the first artificial earth satellite. 1958 - February 7th - In response to the launch of Sputnik, the US Department of Defense issues directive 5105.15 establishing the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The organization united some of America's most brilliant people, who developed the United States' first successful satellite in 18 months. Several years later ARPA began to focus on computer networking and communications technology. In 1962, Dr. J.C.R. Licklider was chosen to head ARPA's research in improving the military's use of computer technology. Licklider was a visionary who sought to make the government's use of computers more interactive. To quickly expand technology, Licklider saw the need to move ARPA's contracts from the private sector to universities and laid the foundations for what would become the ARPANET. The Atlantic cable of 1858 and Sputnik of 1957 were two basic milestone of the Internet prehistory. You might want also to take a look on the Telecommunications and Computers preHistory The Internet as a tool to create "critical mass" of intellectual resources To appreciate the import ante the new computer-aided communication can have, one must consider the dynamics of "critical mass," as it applies to cooperation in creative endeavor. Take any problem worthy of the name, and you find only a few people who can contribute effectively to its solution. Those people must be brought into close intellectual partnership so that their ideas can come into contact with one another. But bring these people together physically in one place to form a team, and you have trouble, for the most creative people are often not the best team players, and there are not enough top positions in a single organization to keep them all happy. Let them go their separate ways, and each creates his own empire, large or small, and devotes more time to the role of emperor than to the role of problem solver. The principals still get together at meetings. They still visit one another. But the time scale of their communication stretches out, and the correlations among mental models degenerate between meetings so that it may take a year to do a weeks communicating. There has to be some way of facilitating communicantion among people wit bout bringing them together in one place.
The Computer as a Communication Device by J.C.R. Licklider, Robert W. Taylor, Science and Technology, April 1968. Online republish by Systems Research Center of DEC, p.29

The first visible results of Licklider's approach comes shortly

1969: The first LOGs: UCLA -- Stanford

According toVinton Cerf: ...the UCLA people proposed to DARPA to organize and run a Network Measurement Center for the ARPANET project...

Around Labor Day in 1969, BBN delivered an Interface Message Processor (IMP) to UCLA that was based on a Honeywell DDP 516, and when they turned it on, it just started running. It was hooked by 50 Kbps circuits to two other sites (SRI and UCSB) in the four-node network: UCLA, Stanford Research Institute (SRI), UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The plan was unprecedented: Kleinrock, a pioneering computer science professor at UCLA, and his small group of graduate students hoped to log onto the Stanford computer and try to send it some data.They would start by typing "login," and seeing if the letters appeared on the far-off monitor.

"We set up a telephone connection between us and the guys at SRI...," Kleinrock ... said in an interview: "We typed the L and we asked on the phone, "Do you see the L?" "Yes, we see the L," came the response. "We typed the O, and we asked, "Do you see the O." "Yes, we see the O." "Then we typed the G, and the system crashed"... Yet a revolution had begun"...

1972: First public demonstration of ARPANET

In late 1971, Larry Roberts at DARPA decided that people needed serious motivation to get things going. In October 1972 there was to be an International Conference on Computer Communications, so Larry asked Bob Kahn at BBN to organize a public demonstration of the ARPANET. It took Bob about a year to get everybody far enough along to demonstrate a bunch of applications on the ARPANET. The idea was that we would install a packet switch and a Terminal Interface Processor or TIP in the basement of the Washington Hilton Hotel, and actually let the public come in and use the ARPANET, running applications all over the U.S .... The demo was a roaring success, much to the surprise of the people at AT&T who were skeptical about whether it would work. Source: Vinton Cerf About one - two years after the first online demo of how "actually let the public come in and use the ARPANET, running applications all over the U.S ...." (Vinton Cerf) the NET became really busy especially "every Friday night" (Bob Bell)

Around about 1973 - 1975 I maintained PDP 10 hardware at SRI. I remember hearing that there was an ARPANET "conference" on the Star Trek game every Friday night. Star Trek was a text based game where you used photon torpedos and phasers to blast Klingons. I used to have a pretty cool logical map of the ARPANET at the time but my ex-wife got it. (She got everything but the debts.) Bob Bell DEC Field Service

It seems we found "a pretty cool logical map of the ARPANET" which Bob has kindly reminded us about . Thanks, Bob!

Logical map of the ARPANET, April 1971

1958 Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) created by Department of Defense (DoD). 1961 Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) assigns a Command and Control Project to ARPA. 1962 Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) formed to coordinate ARPA's command and control research. 1972 ARPA renamed Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). 1986 The technical scope of IPTO expands and it becomes the Information Science and Technology Office (ISTO). 1991 ISTO splits into the Computing Systems Technology Office (CSTO) and the Software and Intelligent Systems Office By Charles Babbage Institute Center For the History of Information Processing University of Minnesota The Internet has changed the way we currently communicate... But could the Internet have performed the function it was originally designed for? CNN: Would the internet survive nuclear war? The Internet Post-Apocalypse There's a common myth that the Internet could survive a nuclear attack. If the Internet, or pieces of it, did withstand such a war, how would it be used post-apocalypse? Would the Internet itself be used to wage war? Would it become a sole source of information for the surviving masses? Or would it be too cluttered with dead sites and falsehoods to be worth anything?

B. Porter - 05:09pm Oct 3, 1998 ET ... It is very doubtful the Internet would survive ANY sort of large-scale nuclear attack.... A few years ago a single "surge" in a major West Coast power line, caused a large portion of the West Coast to be blacked out for several hours. (If you live on the West Coast you probably remember this.) The effect of so many power-stations going out at once would be catastrophic to the power grid for ALL of North America, and Western Europe... Finally, however, the biggest problem, as was previously mentioned, is the EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse - ed.) pulse. The first missiles to fly ... would then explode, at high-altitude.... These explosions would result in an unprecedented EMP pulse that would cripple virtually 90% (Military estimates put this at closer to 95% of more) of all electronics in the U.S... Almost anything with a microchip in it would be gone.... Imagine the effect of this... D. Callahan - 09:42am Oct 6, 1998 ET ... This question is somewhat stupid: In keeping with the Cold War theme, I'll end with a quote from Kruscheve (spelling): "In a nuclear war-the living will envy the dead..." By CNN Interactive

The Roads That Were . Built By Ike

"I like Ike" was an irressistible slogan in .1952. About half century later, there are reasons "to like Ike" even more ...

Many people don't realize that there is more than a metaphor which connects the

"Information Superhighway"
with the

Interstate Highway System

In 1957, while responding to the threat of the Soviets in general and the success of Sputnik in particular, President Dwight Eisenhower created both the Interstate Highway System and the Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA. .by Steve Driscoll, Online Computer Library Center Inc.

Information Superhighway:
what exactly does it mean? In Europe: "A term often used by the media to describe the Internet." by The Internet Dictionary , Bradford, England In USA there are lots of different meanings: Information Superhighway/Infobahn: The terms were coined to describe a possible upgrade to the existing Internet through the use of fiber optic and/or coaxial cable to allow for high speed data transmission. This highway does not exist - the Internet of today is not an information superhighway. by Internet Glossary , SquareOne Technology . information superhighway or I-way - this is a buzzword from a speech by Vice President Al Gore that refers to the Clinton/Gore administration's plan to deregulate communication services and widen the scope of the Internet by opening carriers, such as television cable, to data communication. The term is widely used to mean the Internet, also referred to as the infobahn (I-bahn). by Online Dictionary , NetLingo Confusing, isn't it? Fortunately Nice Lady kindly agreed to clarify the root source: The point that I do want to dust off and raise again is that ARPA wouldn't have happened, if what used to be the Soviet Union hadn't shaken complacent U.S. awake with a tin can in the sky, Sputnik.

Wars do wonders for the advancement of technology, and the Cold one was certainly no exception. The way to get a technology advanced is to gather a lot of really smart people under one roof and get them to concentrate on a single project. Of course, that takes some organization and money. Where does that come from? But that's another can of worms - to be opened with relish at a later date. In this case, it was the only body that had a stake in making sure the Net worked - the government. What with the Cold War in full swing and all, the military, specifically its think tank the Rand Corporation, was concerned that if the war ever got hot and large chunks of the country were vaporized, those phone lines (not to mention considerable segments of the population) would be radioactive dust. And the top brass wouldn't be able to get in touch and carry on. Thus the packets bouncing from node to node, each of those nodes able to send, receive and pass on data with the same authority as any other. It was anarchy that worked, and on a technical level, it still does, obviously.

Gore has become the point man in the Clinton administration's effort to build a national information highway much as his father, former Senator Albert Gore, was a principal architect of the interstate highway system a generation or more earlier. Principal Figures in the Development of the Internet ... The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil

24 Jun 1986: Albert Gore (D-TN) introduce S 2594 Supercomputer Network Study Act of 1986 21 March 1994: Gore's Buenos Aires Speech International Telecommunications Union: "By means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time ... The round globe is a vast ... brain, instinct with intelligence!" This was not the observation of a physicist--or a neurologist. Instead, these visionary words were written in 1851 by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of my country's greatest writers, who was inspired by the development of the telegraph. Much as Jules Verne foresaw submarines and moon landings, Hawthorne foresaw what we are now poised to bring into being...

... I opened by quoting Nathaniel Hawthorne, inspired by Samuel Morse's invention of the telegraph. Morse was also a famous portrait artist in the U.S.--his portrait of President James Monroe hangs today in the White House. While Morse was working on a portrait of General Lafayette in Washington, his wife, who lived about 500 kilometers away, grew ill and died. But it took seven days for the news to reach him. In his grief and remorse, he began to wonder if it were possible to erase barriers of time and space, so that no one would be unable to reach a loved one in time of need. Pursuing this thought, he came to discover how to use electricity to convey messages, and so he invented the telegraph and, indirectly, the ITU."

History of the Internet

This section is a summary of some of the material contained in Hobbes' Internet Timeline and also contains sources from Pros Online - Internet History, What is the Internet? and History of Internet and WWW : View from NetValley and a variety of text books. Consult these source for more detailed information. 1836 -- Telegraph. Cooke and Wheatstone patent it. Why is this relevant?

Revolutionized human (tele)communications. Morse Code a series of dots and dashes used to communicate between humans. This is not a million miles away from how computers communicate via (binary 0/1) data today. Although it is much slower!!

1858-1866 -- Transatlantic cable. Allowed direct instantaneous communication across the atlantic. Why is this relevant?

Today, cables connect all continents and are still a main hub of telecommunications.

1876 -- Telephone. Alexander Graham Bell Exhibits. Why is this relevant?

Telephones exchanges provide the backbone of Internet connections today. Modems provide Digital to Audio conversions to allow computers to connect over the telephone network.

1957 -- USSR launches Sputnik, first artificial earth satellite. Why is this relevant?

The start of global telecommunications. Satellites play an important role in transmitting all sorts of data today. In response, US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the military.

1962 - 1968 -- Packet-switching (PS) networks developed Why is this relevant?

As we will see later the Internet relies on packets to transfer data. The origin is military : for utmost security in transferring information of networks (no single outage point). Data is split into tiny packets that may take different routes to a destination. Hard to eavesdrop on messages. More than one route available -- if one route goes down another may be followed. Networks can withstand large scale destruction (Nuclear attack - This was the time of the Cold War).

1969 -- Birth of Internet ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking Why is this relevant?

First node at UCLA (Los Angeles) closely followed by nodes at Stanford Research Institute, UCSB (Santa Barbara) and U of Utah (4 Nodes).

1971 -- People communicate over a network 15 nodes (23 hosts) on ARPANET. E-mail invented -- a program to send messages across a distributed network. Why is this relevant?

E-mail is still the main way of inter-person communication on the Internet We will study how to use and send E-mail shortly in this course. You will make extensive use of E-mail for the rest of your life.

today.
o o

1972 -- Computers can connect more freely and easily First public demonstration of ARPANET between 40 machines. Internetworking Working Group (INWG) created to address need for establishing agreed upon protocols.

Why is this relevant?

o o

Telnet specification Telnet is still a relevant means of inter-machine connection today.

1973 -- Global Networking becomes a reality First international connections to the ARPANET: University College of London (England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway) Ethernet outlined -- this how local networks are basically connected today. Internet ideas started. Gateway architecture sketched on back of envelope in hotel lobby in San Francisco. Gateways define how large networks (maybe of different architecture) can be connected together. File Transfer protocol specified -- how computers send and receive data.

1974 -- Packets become mode of transfer Transmission Control Program (TCP) specified. Packet network Intercommunication -- the basis of Internet Communication. Telenet, a commercial version of ARPANET, opened -- the first public packet data service.

1976 -- Networking comes to many

Queen Elizabeth sends out an e-mail. UUCP (Unix-to-Unix CoPy) developed at AT&T Bell Labs and distributed with

UNIX. Why is this relevant?

UNIX was and still is the main operating system used by universities and research establishments. o These machines could now ``talk'' over a network. o Networking exposed to many users worldwide.
o

1977 -- E-mail takes off, Internet becomes a reality Number of hosts breaks 100. THEORYNET provides electronic mail to over 100 researchers in computer science (using a locally developed E-mail system and TELENET for access to server). Mail specification First demonstration of ARPANET/Packet Radio Net/SATNET operation of Internet protocols over gateways.

1979 -- News Groups born

Computer Science Department research computer network established in USA. USENET established using UUCP.

Why is this relevant?

o o o o

USENET still thrives today. A collection of discussions groups, news groups. 3 news groups established by the end of the year Almost any topic now has a discussion group.

1979 (Cont) First MUD (Multiuser Dungeon) -- interactive multiuser sites. Interactive adventure games, board games, rich and detailed databases. ARPA establishes the Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB). Packet Radio Network (PRNET) experiment starts with ARPA funding. Most communications take place between mobile vans.

1981 -- Things start to come together BITNET, the "Because It's Time NETwork" Started as a cooperative network at the City University of New York, with the first connection to Yale

Provides electronic mail and listserv servers to distribute information, as well as file transfers CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) established to provide networking services (specially E-mail) to university scientists with no access to ARPANET. CSNET later becomes known as the Computer and Science Network.
o

1982 -- TCP/IP defines future communication DCA and ARPA establishes the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), as the protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, for ARPANET.

Why is this relevant?

Leads to one of the first definitions of an internet as a connected set of networks, specifically those using TCP/IP, and Internet as connected TCP/IP internets.
o

1982 (Cont) EUnet (European UNIX Network) is created by EUUG to provide E-mail and USENET services. Original connections between the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and UK External Gateway Protocol specification -- EGP is used for gateways between (different architecture) networks.

1983 -- Internet gets bigger

Name server developed.

Why is this relevant?

o o o

Large number of nodes. Hard to remember exact paths Use meaningful names instead.

Desktop workstations come into being.

Why is this relevant?

Many with Berkeley UNIX which includes IP networking software. Need switches from having a single, large time sharing computer connected to Internet per site, to connection of an entire local network.
o o

1983 (Cont) Internet Activities Board (IAB) established, replacing ICCB Berkeley releases new version of UNIX 4.2BSD incorporating TCP/IP. EARN (European Academic and Research Network) established on similar lines to BITNET

1984 -- Growth of Internet Continues

Number of hosts breaks 1,000. Domain Name Server (DNS) introduced.

o o

instead of 123.456.789.10 it is easier to remember something like

www.myuniversity.mydept.mynetwork.mycountry ( e.g. www.cs.cf.ac.uk).

JANET (Joint Academic Network) established in the UK Moderated newsgroups introduced on USENET.

1986 -- Power of Internet Realised 5, 000 Hosts. 241 News groups. NSFNET created (backbone speed of 56 Kbps) NSF establishes 5 super-computing centers to provide high-computing power for all -- This allows an explosion of connections, especially from universities. Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) designed to enhance Usenet news performance over TCP/IP.

1987 -- Commercialisation of Internet Born

Number of hosts 28,000. UUNET is founded with Usenix funds to provide commercial UUCP and Usenet

access.

1988

NSFNET backbone upgraded to T1 (1.544 Mbps) Internet Relay Chat (IRC) developed

1989 -- Large growth in Internet

Number of hosts breaks 100,000 First relays between a commercial electronic mail carrier and the Internet Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) comes into existence under the IAB

1990

-- Expansion of Internet continues 300,000 Hosts. 1,000 News groups ARPANET ceases to exist Archie released files can be searched and retrieved (FTP) by name. The World comes on-line (world.std.com), becoming the first commercial provider of Internet dial-up access.

1991 -- Modernisation Begins Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) Association, Inc. formed after NSF lifts restrictions on the commercial use of the Net. Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) Why is relevant?

Provides a mechanism for indexing and accessing information on the Internet. o Large bodies of knowledge available: E-mail messages, text, electronic books, Usenet articles, computer code, image, graphics, sound files, databases etc.. o These form the basis of the index of information we see on WWW today. o Powerful search techniques implemented. Keyword search.
o

1991 (cont) -- Friendly User Interface to WWW established Gopher released by Paul Lindner and Mark P. McCahill from the U of Minnesota. Why is relevant?

Text based, menu-driven interface to access internet resources. No need to remember or even know complex computer command. User Friendly Interface (?). o Largely superseded by WWW, these days.
o o

1991 (cont) -- Most Important development to date World-Wide Web (WWW) released by CERN; Tim Berners-Lee developer. Why is relevant?

Originally developed to provide a distributed hypermedia system. Easy access to any form of information anywhere in the world. Initially non-graphic (this came later, MOSAIC, 1993). Revolutionized modern communications and even our, way of life (?). NSFNET backbone upgraded to T3 (44.736 Mbps). NSFNET traffic passes 1 trillion bytes/month and 10 billion packets/month Start of JANET IP Service (JIPS) using TCP/IP within the UK academic network.
o o o o

1992 -- Multimedia changes the face of the Internet

Number of hosts breaks 1 Million. News groups 4,000 Internet Society (ISOC) is chartered. First MBONE audio multicast (March) and video multicast (November). The term "Surfing the Internet" is coined by Jean Armour Polly.

1993 -- The WWW Revolution truly begins

Number of Hosts 2 Million. 600 WWW sites. InterNIC created by NSF to provide specific Internet services o directory and database services o registration services o information services Business and Media really take notice of the Internet. US White House and United Nations (UN) comes on-line. Mosaic takes the Internet by storm. Why is this relevant?

o o o

User Friendly Graphical Front End to the World Wide Web. Develops into Netscape -- most popular WWW browser to date. WWW proliferates at a 341,634

1994 -- Commercialisation begins Number of Hosts 3 Million. 10,000 WWW sites. 10,000 News groups. ARPANET/Internet celebrates 25th anniversary Local communities begin to be wired up directly to the Internet (Lexington and Cambridge, Mass., USA)

US Senate and House provide information servers Shopping malls, banks arrive on the Internet o A new way of life o You can now order pizza from the Hut online in the US. o First Virtual, the first cyberbank, open up for business NSFNET traffic passes 10 trillion bytes/month WWW edges out telnet to become 2nd most popular service on the Net (behind ftpdata) based on % of packets and bytes traffic distribution on NSFNET UK's HM Treasury on-line (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/)

1995 -- Commercialisation continues apace 6.5 Million Hosts, 100,000 WWW Sites. NSFNET reverts back to a research network. Main US backbone traffic now routed through interconnected network providers WWW surpasses ftp-data in March as the service with greatest traffic on NSFNet based on packet count, and in April based on byte count Traditional online dial-up systems (Compuserve, America Online, Prodigy) begin to provide Internet access A number of Net related companies go public, with Netscape leading the pack. Registration of domain names is no longer free. Technologies of the Year: WWW, Search engines (WAIS development). New WWW technologies Emerge Technologies

o o o

Mobile code (JAVA, JAVAscript, ActiveX), Virtual environments (VRML), Collaborative tools (CU-SeeMe)

1996 -- Microsoft enter 12.8 Million Hosts, 0.5 Million WWW Sites. Internet phones catch the attention of US telecommunication companies who ask the US Congress to ban the technology (which has been around for years) The WWW browser war begins , fought primarily between Netscape and Microsoft, has rushed in a new age in software development, whereby new releases are made quarterly with the help of Internet users eager to test upcoming (beta) versions.

1997 -- What Next?

19.5 Million Hosts, 1 Million WWW sites, 71,618 Newsgroups.

Internet Communication
The Internet is one of the greatest humankind's inventions of the last century. It is fast and easy way to get a lot of valuable information. However, some people believe that the Internet creates many problems. From my point of view I think that the Internet brings us advantages as well as disadvantages. First of all, the Internet brings us many benefits. People can have access to the latest news, weather, traffic, bid-and-asked quotations, etc. Another important benefit is that the Internet is a great means of communication. A few years ago it was rather difficult to imagine that it would be possible to communicate with people from all around the world. Students have the opportunity to speak to the professors from prestigious universities, ask their opinions and extend their range of interests. People have the opportunity to communicate with the people from other countries, find out their customs, traditions and even visit each other. I think that the Internet makes our world smaller and friendlier. We've got the chance to learn more about the world's history, our forefathers and gain more knowledge. From the other hand, many questions and difficulties arose with the appearance of the Internet. For example, children got the easy access to the information they are not supposed to read. Also, people's security and privacy are often violated through steeling and gathering information about people and then selling it. Many banks had to increase their Internet security because of hacking. However, I believe that Internet gave us more advantages and opportunities than disadvantages and problems. Interest in communication has been stimulated by advances in science and technology, which, by their nature, have called attention to man as a communicating creature. Among the first and most dramatic examples of the inventions resulting from technological ingenuity were the telegraph and telephone, followed by others like wireless radio and telephoto devices. The development of popular newspapers and periodicals, broadcasting, motion pictures, and television led to institutional and cultural innovations that permitted efficient and rapid communication between a few individuals and large populations; these media have been responsible for the rise and social power of the new phenomenon of mass communication.There are five revolutionary mass communication mediums that were characterized by Al Reis in his most recent book, 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding. The first mass communication vehicle was the book, where it served as a channel to distribute information in an organized and orderly fashion. The book was the dynamic mechanism behind the spread of technology, which made it easier for past generation to gather and collect information to be distributed on a wider scale that was not possible without the help.

New communications and information technologies, commonly referred to as the Internet, have opened up new horizons of public access to information, education and cultural resources. At the same time, the Internet provides an amazing tool for individual and group expression with possibilities of reaching a much larger audience than before at a low cost. In recent years, the Council of Europe has adopted several legal and political instruments, which provide answers to the regulatory challenges posed by the Internet. The Convention on Cybercrime, opened for signature in 2001, enables mutual assistance between States regarding certain computer-related crimes. Another example is Recommendation Rec (2001) 8 on self-regulation concerning cyber content (self-regulation and user protection against illegal or harmful content on new communications and information services), which deals with the issue of illegal and harmful Internet content in general, advocating a self-regulatory approach, with a view to protecting freedom of expression and information as well as other fundamental values. Over the past few years, there has been a marked tendency by some governments to restrict and control access to the Internet in a manner which is incompatible with international norms on freedom of expression and information. Against this background, the Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM) of the Council of Europe decided to draw up a Declaration where such practices, especially when politically motivated, would be strongly condemned. It was considered appropriate to deal in the same text with other aspects of the Internet where freedom of expression and information is particularly at stake, namely regarding the removal of barriers to the participation of individuals in the information society, the freedom to provide services via the Internet, the liability of intermediaries, as well as anonymity. A first draft of this Declaration was made available for public comment on the web site of the Council of Europe in April 2002. Several organisations and individuals sent in their comments and they have been duly taken into account during the finalisation of the draft.