It is often claimed that the internet is a military invention. However, many key ideas of the internet originated in universities and not in military secret labs.
A story, or rather a myth, about how the internet came to be is widespread. It is said that the internet was invented by the Pentagon so that a communication structure would remain functional after a nuclear strike, and thus was militarily conceived from the outset.
In fact, this specific “nuclear war” narrative only emerged much later: many key ideas and components of today’s internet originated in civilian, academic, and sometimes also industrial contexts, not in military secret labs.
The precursor to the internet was a research network of universities
The US agency ARPA (later DARPA) funded foundational research in computer science and networking in the early 1960s; one goal was efficient resource access for university computers, not a “nuclear war network.” (D)ARPA stands for (Defense) Advanced Research Projects Agency and is an agency of the US Department of Defense that focuses on research.
In 1969, the system that many see as the precursor to today’s internet starts: ARPAnet (alternative spelling: ARPANET). ARPAnet starts as a research network with four US universities. The focus is on time-sharing, remote access to computing power, and emails. Key technologies of today’s internet (DNS, TCP/IP standardization) were primarily developed in scientifically civilian environments and not in a military environment.
Bob Taylor, who was in charge of ARPAnet in the 1960s, explained at the time (via internetmythen.de):
The creation of ARPAnet was not military motivated. The ARPAnet was intended to enable people with common interests to connect with each other through interactive computing, even if they were located far apart.
It was only from the mid-1970s that ARPAnet became more militarily administered. In the early 1980s, military and civilian networks were eventually run separately: MILnet and ARPAnet.
What role did the military play at all? Especially in financing, the military played an important role. Without the money from the US Department of Defense, part of the early network research (including ARPAnet) would not have come about or would have happened later.
The modern internet relies today on a few large providers. But this brings great risks. If one provider fails, millions of users are affected. Providers and states are already looking for alternatives to solve the dilemma: Our internet has a major problem that exposes us all to the risk of serious outages
