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20th Anniversary of the Dawn of Dot-Com

Posted by kdawson on from the fanfare-of-woodwinds dept.

btempleton writes "It was 20 years ago today when I posted to USENET the public launch of ClariNet, my electronic newspaper service delivered over the Internet. By finding a way around the NSFNet acceptable use policy, ClariNet was the first business founded to use the Internet as its platform for business, and the era of the 'dot-com' had begun. For the anniversary I have written a history of the founding of ClariNet and early internet business, which outlines how it all came down. Readers may also enjoy the included anecdote about what I term 'M5' reliability, where the news system was so robust that, like the M5 computer on Star Trek, even those authorized to do so were unable to shut it off; and a story of the earliest large SF eBook effort."

1 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So we should blame you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This guy, whom you speak of, is Brad Templeton. He just so happens to also be the Chairman of the Board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

    I think we owe him (and the EFF) a little gratitude for sticking up for all of us who want to use the internet in free and open ways, and NOT the manner in which corporations would prefer you to.

    I'm kinda glad he helped start the commercialization of the internet. And glad that he is also working hard to protect it as a medium of information exchange that we all value so much.