May 30, 2007 Comments
Why We Owe Al Gore for the Internet
How many times have you heard someone joke about Al Gore “inventing” the internet? It’s amazing how pervasive this myth is as it’s practically folklore by now. Even Engadget’s Ryan Block, one of the most commonly associated names with well-informed technology news, perpetuated the myth in this recent post. That post in particular angered me because I normally expect better from Engadget.
Thanks to Flickr user joTape85
I hate disinformation, so to correct this all-too-often myth I present to you a quick overview of Gore’s contribution to the net (culled from the Gore’s Wikipedia entry):
- He drafted the “High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991″ as a response to the 1988 report “Toward a National Research Network” by a former ARPANET creator. (ARPANET was basically the predecessor of the internet)
- The bill passed in December of 1991 and led to the development of the National Information Infrastructure which Gore wisely dubbed the “Information Superhighway”.
- The bill also led to the development of Mosaic, the first widely-used web browser. Mosaic is often credited as one of the most crucial elements to the rising popularity of the web in the early 90’s.
- As Vice-President, he worked together with President Clinton to craft the reports “Technology for America’s Economic Growth” and “Science in the National Interest“.
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