NET: ARPA didn't invent the Internet

It's a story that highlights government contributions and ignores everything else

A common claim among the Progressive left is that only government vision could create something like the Internet. While government certainly made important contributions, the Internet's history reveals more about overcoming government opposition than fulfilling a centralized vision.

Critics often highlight visible government efforts while overlooking non-government contributions. The Internet's utility stems from massive infrastructure investments—from innovations like fiber optics to laying cables globally—largely accomplished without government subsidies. Government entities leased circuits from private companies rather than building them directly.

Networks function through protocols that direct packets across multiple links toward their destinations. Every Internet-connected device follows the same protocol standards, enabling seamless operation across hundreds of different companies' equipment—similar to how standardized railway tracks allow trains to operate across different systems.

The Internet protocols were primarily created by academics with DoD funding, but their work built upon contributions from entities like Xerox's PUP protocol and the French CYCLADES protocol. Interestingly, Xerox's network protocol could have become the foundation for a worldwide Internet instead of the DoD protocol.

By the time Internet protocols were finalized around 1981 (officially launching January 1, 1983), government had already deemed them obsolete. In the late 1970s, standardization concerns led major corporations, computer companies, and telecommunications giants to develop the "OSI" (Open Systems Interconnect) alternative standard instead.

This OSI Seven Layer Reference Model, largely complete by 1977, ultimately proved impractical. Despite government rules mandating OSI-compatible computer purchases through "GOSIP" (Government OSI Profile), Internet-compatible systems received exceptions because OSI-compliant computers from different manufacturers couldn't reliably communicate with each other.

The OSI model's failure stemmed from its foundation in mainframe computing and telecommunications infrastructure that didn't accommodate emerging technologies like Ethernet (developed at Xerox) and internetworking technologies like TCP/IP. While OSI envisioned centralized control, the Internet operated on decentralized, peer-to-peer principles.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, government officially promoted GOSIP while unofficially supporting the Internet because it actually worked. A crucial development came when consultants at BBN added the Internet stack to BSD Unix under a DoD contract, though Bill Joy at Sun Microsystems later rewrote much of this code—creating the foundation for modern Internet stacks, including Microsoft Windows (which is notoriously anti-Unix).

The ARPAnet's transition to Internet protocols on January 1, 1983, marked another significant milestone. Initially a private network connecting research centers and universities, the Internet's compatibility with affordable Unix systems using Motorola's 68000 CPU drove rapid adoption. Cheap Unix drove networking more than anything else during this time. Soon, even non-DoD researchers and businesses sought connections, transforming the government's private research network into the public Internet.

There was never really vision for one single Internet to unite everything. That happened by accident, as everyone merged private networks together. Even today we struggle with this accident, creating “firewall” borders for our private networks.

While government funding supported protocol development, early BSD implementation, and the NSFnet backbone (until its exit in 1995), these contributions were complemented by substantial private investment. A global internetwork would likely have developed regardless—perhaps using Xerox XNS protocols—through organic interconnection of networks.

The conclusion is this: while government played an influential role and made notable contributions, it wasn't the primary creator of the Internet. The Internet as we know it today would have evolved similarly regardless of government involvement.