Intellectual Property Law

History of Computer/IT Law (1993-2001)

By Michael Scott

Fourth Epoch (1993-2001)

By the early 1990s, the Internet was old-hat to computer professionals, but virtually unknown to the general public. The system began in 1969 as the ARPANet. It was ?designed to enable computers operated by the military, defense contractors, and universities conducting defense-related research to communicate with one another by redundant channels even if some portions of the network were damaged in a war.?¹ After two decades, pressure built to open the network to commercial activities. Finally, in 1993, the National Science Foundation (NSF) (which had been administering the Internet for many years) created InterNIC and the Internet was opened to the public. Little did the NSF realize the legal issues that this seemingly simple decision would engender. (More after the jump.)

1. American Civil Liberties Union v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. 824, 831 (E.D. Pa. 1996), aff?d, Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997). [?]

Full post as published by Singularity on July 18, 2007 (boomark / email).