CHAPTER ESSENTIALS

• The Internet—the vast central network of telephone and cable lines, wireless connections, and satellite systems designed to link and carry computer information worldwide—was initially modeled after the highway system. Begun in the late 1960s, the original Internet, ARPAnet, was created by the U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and used as a military-government communication tool. E-mail enabled researchers to communicate with ease from separate locations (pp. 296–298).

• Innovations in the 1970s and 1980s took the Internet from the development stage to the entrepreneurial stage, as a growing community of researchers, computer programmers, amateur hackers, and commercial interests tapped into the Net. Microprocessors—miniature circuits that could process and store electronic signals—led to the introduction of the first personal computers (PCs); fiber-optic cable—thin bundles of glass capable of transmitting thousands of messages at once—helped make the commercial use of computers even more viable (p. 299).

• Though limited to text browsing (content only) and e-mailing capabilities (Web 1.0), the Internet reached the masses for the first time in the late 1980s with the creation of the World Wide Web—a free and open data-linking system for organizing and standardizing information on the Internet. Information is made accessible through HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the written code that connects Web pages and links, and Web browsers, software that helps users navigate the Web (pp. 300–301).

• The rise of faster microprocessors, high-speed broadband networks, and the proliferation of digital content in the 2000s have pushed the Internet into a new phase (Web 2.0), whereby multimedia, interactive, user-generated functions and media convergence abound. People use the Web for a variety of social media, of which six categories have been identified: social networking sites, blogs, collaborative projects, content communities, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds (pp. 301–304).

• The next phase (Web 3.0) centers around a Semantic Web, which reflects the continuing evolution in our relationship with the Internet (p. 305).

• Commercial entities on the Web strive to bring in money by selling access to the Internet, services for fees, goods via the Internet, and advertising. Internet service providers (ISPs) compete to provide consumers with Web access via broadband connections, Web browsers make it easy for users to navigate the Web, directories and search engines make money by providing users access and allowing advertisers to engage in targeted advertising, online retailers take a larger share each year of the retail market, and an increasing portion of those online sales are taking place through mobile devices (pp. 308–313).

• Noncommercial entities on the Web do not make a profit from the Internet but still strive to innovate in their operations. Open-source software is shared freely and developed collectively on the Internet, whereas digital archiving aims to ensure that data is stored and preserved digitally, so that all people have access to it (pp. 313–314).

• Government surveillance, online fraud (such as phishing or sending phony e-mail messages that appear to be from official Web sites), and unethical data gathering via cookies (information profiles that are collected and transferred between computer servers) and spyware have raised questions of information security on the Web and what should be considered private (pp. 314–316).

• At the same time, the issues of protecting people from online predators and figuring out what constitutes appropriate content on the Web, particularly regarding sexually explicit material, have sparked public concern (pp. 316–317).

• The Internet has made it easier for more people to voice opinions and become involved in a wide range of topics, but it has also revealed a digital divide regarding those who have access to information and those who do not. Mobile technology is helping to bridge the divide, and some cities are looking into inexpensive public access Wi-Fi, or wireless Internet access, allowing users to connect wherever they are (pp. 317, 320).

• Questions over commercial ownership and mass customization, whereby individual consumers can tailor a Web page or other media form, have raised doubts about the true participatory nature of the Internet (pp. 320–321).

1. Question 9.1

   How did the Internet originate? What does its development have in common with earlier mass media?

2. Question 9.2

   Trace the evolution of the Internet from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. What are the key differences between these two phases of Internet growth?

3. Question 9.3

   How have major companies tried to control the Internet? Which failed, and why?

4. Question 9.4

   What are the central concerns about the Internet regarding security and appropriateness?

5. Question 9.5

   How can the Internet make democracy work better? What are the key challenges to making the Internet itself more democratic?

• DESCRIBE what you see. Set the browser preferences to always ask you if you wish to accept cookies or, alternately, to never accept cookies. Then, when you use your computer, note how often you need a cookie to advance to the next Web page.

• ANALYZE your findings by looking for patterns. Can you identify which companies set cookies on your browser? What is the expiration date for most cookies? In your “cookie-less” browser run, how often did you get stopped because the site wanted to set cookies?

• INTERPRET what all of this means. Were you aware that so many cookies were tracking your visits to certain sites? Did you give those sites explicit permission? Do you have any idea what the cookie information was being used for? What does this say about privacy and ethics on the Web?

• EVALUATE whether this kind of data collection is good or bad.

• ENGAGE with your community by writing to the FCC (see the “FCC Complaints” Web page) to register your concerns, or ask someone at one of the Web sites about what kind of information the site is collecting.