NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Video: 1994: "Today": "What is the Internet, Anyway?" + Egypt
Video: 1994: "Today": "What is the Internet, Anyway?" + Egypt http://bit.ly/g7pYjD (Google Buzz) - - - With Egypt's Internet shutdown generating so much discussion about the indispensability of the Net, it's useful to remember that for most persons who use the Net today, it's a relatively recent phenomenon. This 90 second video clip: http://bit.ly/g0qOrq (YouTube) shows obvious confusion on the set of NBC's "Today" show, regarding the Internet and the @-sign. This footage apparently dates to January 1994, around the time of the Northridge earthquake (that occurred literally five minutes from where I'm sitting, and which I remember very well indeed). Both the video and audio of this clip were in terrible shape when I received it recently -- I've cleaned up both as much as possible, though the quality still definitely isn't anything to write home about. It's interesting to note the assertion during the clip that you "didn't need phone lines" to use the Internet. Back in 1994 this was definitely not the case for most of us. But it would certainly be wrong to laugh at the comments of Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric -- we've come a long way since 1994. Egypt appears to have succeeded for now in turning their "Internet clock" back prior even to that date. And as I discussed today in: "'Plan D' - How To Disrupt the U.S.A.'s Internet" ( http://bit.ly/eV7Ivn [Lauren's Blog] ), don't be so sure that it isn't technically possible for something similar to happen in the U.S. under a certain set of horrible circumstances. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org Founder: - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz Quora: http://www.quora.com/Lauren-Weinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com