History Of Development Of Internet

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Submitted by: Saad Alqarni

Table of Contents

Introduction

The world has been undergoing persistent transformation. Some of these transformations have been attributed to the changing developments in science and technology. In particular, information and communication technology is one of the most celebrated developments. Indeed, information technology has changed the lives of people across the globe. Information technology has reduced the world to a global village through fostering of advanced forms of communication. At the heart of information technology developments have been those pertaining to the internet. It is worth arguing that internet technology is currently the most widely celebrated development. It is now a dominant means of communication, yet is it argued that number of users continue to increase. Internet is characterized by various trends and technological developments, which this paper sets to explore.

The History of development of Internet

The history of the internet can be trace to 1950s to the development of the computer technologies (Barry, 2009). The public would be first introduce to the internet concept following the successful process of sending a message through ARPANet, an experiment advanced by Leonard Kleinrock's, a professor at University of Carlifornia. This followed the installation of the networking equipment at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Various networks were later introduced Merit network, mark, cycad ales, Tymnet and Telnet were developing in the course of 1960s and 1970s, and this based on a wide range of protocols (Barry, 1997). In particular, ARPANET resulted in the development protocols for internet networking and this created the allowance for joing together a series of networks. In 1982, the internet protocol suit, also known as the IP address, became standardize, creating the allowance for the worldwide internet network to be established. The access to the ARPANET network realized an expansion in 1981 when the National Science Foundation developed a network for computer science. This received a boost following the decision of the National Science Foundation network to offer access to the sites of super computers for the educations and organization researches. The provisioning of commercial internet services started in 1980s and continued to gain popularity in the 1990s. Later, in 1995, the internet services would be commercialize while NSFnet was decommissioned (Clark, 1988).

As from 1990s, the internet developments became popular that it was considered a revolutionary development, especially as far as commerce and culture is concerned. Various forms of communications were introduce, including instant messaging services, voice services and e-mail systems, as well as the global web systems. This also created the allowance for the popularity of the online shopping sites to thrive, while social networking and online discussion forum became popular (Mihir, 1999). Currently, the education and research community pertaining to the internet continues to thrive and advanced research networks, such as National Lambda Rail, Internet2 and VBNS. These have increased the amount of data that can be transmit within unit time to as high as 10-Gb/sec. The takeover over of communication by the internet has been describe as being rapid. By 1993, the internet telecommunication popularity was 1 percent. However, as 2000, the internet popularity was 51 percent. As of 2007, the internet popularity was 97 percent. Currently, the internet popularity continues to grow and this have fuelled by commerce, entertainment and increase in online content, as well as growth of popularity of social networking.

Security

The most rampant internet security breaches that have evidenced within include Cyber bullying, Network intrusion, Cyber Fraud, Virus launching and data breaches (Bowles, 2009). Cyber fraud can be define as the use of software or internet services to defraud victims or taking advantage of them. This includes stealing information that considered personal, in what constitutes identity theft. One of the most common forms of internet fraud entails distributing rogue security software. Internet technology has created the allowance for criminals to carry out fraudulent transactions, as well as transmit the proceeds of the frauds to other institutions. Cyber frauds occur in message boards, websites, emails and even chat rooms. Data breaches include all those cyber activities characterized by unauthorized access, use and disclosure of individuals’ or organization information over or from the internet. Malicious attacks are considered to constitute the most expensive data breach, yet they are on the increase. Malicious attacks account for as significant as 40 percent of the data breaches where negligence account for about 32 percent (Adeyinga, 2008). Computer software companies, healthcare records and companies have been the most targeted and have accounted for as significant as 93 percent of the global data breaches (Bowles, 2009).

Network intrusion or hacking refers to the unauthorized entry into a network, often characterized by malicious ambition of intercepting information from the network or website. The information can be used for other criminal activities such as fraud or espionage. Telvent Company hacking is considered as one of the recent hacking events, an event that occurred in September 2012. The company had learned that its firewall and security systems had compromised by the attackers who had installed malicious software that enabled them steal project files. Launching worms is a cybercrime that involves development of worms, also referred to as viruses, then releasing them on the internet domains. The worms slow down the internet connectivity or infect computers to stop them from functioning effectively. In 2000, FBI suspected incidents of cybercrimes being committee by the Russian citizens; Alexey Ivanov and Vasiliy Gorshkov. It sought to track the suspected cyber criminals, luring them to come to United States with a ruse of a job promise (US Chamber of Commerce, 2010). Activities of concocting worms and launching them on the internet are illegal is some parts of the world. As such, a person found to engage in cybercrime activities that spreads worms is likely to be prosecute in various courts of countries affected by the worms. Cyber bullying has been city as one of the areas that constitute internet security breaches. It entails transferring of abuses or information aimed at intimidating other people. Cyber bullying has turned out as the newest platform for which the people, especially the youth, are increasingly abusing each other. The more concerning issue is there are currently no new appropriate techniques that intervene for cyber bullying despite the large numbers of children who have access to information and technologies.

File sharing

The internet technology has created the allowance for people to share files of information. People can share music files. People can also share written information and pictures through the internet. People are also sharing movies through the internet. It is through the internet that information can be share through the websites and this is increasingly gaining popularity (Silverthorne, 2004). Some of these files can be trade. Software is an example of the most shared files, yet the system of sharing information is also common for research and learning (US Department of Education, 2006).

However, perhaps the biggest development in file sharing has the ability for the internet to enable information to be share, as in integrated service systems. The importance of such service systems has evidenced in healthcare service, which is depict in the development of the healthcare records. The concept "Electronic health record" is an evolving one, defined as organized collection of electronic health information. Electronic records exist in digital formats that are theoretically capable of being share across different settings of healthcare. In most cases, the sharing occurs by way of network-connected information systems, as well as other information networks. In particular, electronic health records may entail a range of data, which include medical history, laboratory test results, demographics, immunization status, medication and allergies, personal status (such as age and weight), radiology images and information pertaining to billing. Since its inception in United Kingdom, electronic health records have significantly transformed the services in the health care. As if not enough, the inception of electronic health record era did not mark the end to the transformations in itself; There have been various developments that have taken place. Currently, other developments are even still taking shape, with various factors affecting the success electronic record healthcare. In the same way, users are increasingly sharing files over the internet. With the current trending developments in the support of internet, it is expected that these would take the internet users to another level, implying increase utilization of file sharing services.

E-commerce

Internet has created the allowance for people to conduct online transactions, as well as market and promote products. As far as business promotional activities are concerned, social media, use particularly appraised. A social network is a structure that comprise of persons or organizations interrelating freely. These can be represent by use of nodes. In such case, one or many specified types of mutuality, for instance, financial exchange, common interest and friendship, as well as knowledge or prestige, link the nodes. Initially, it was intend to create friendship and foster connections with others (Levine 2011). However, today, businessperson have recognized how valuable social networking is to their businesses. Needless to say, most online businesses have made social networking integral part of their businesses. However, social networks are not without negative implications on business organizations (Mihir, 1999).

Indeed, social networking sites are currently pivotal to online businesses in various ways. First, it is worth noting that social networking sites, especially the premier websites, have made it easy for businesses to improve contact lists and create ideas on viral marketing, as well as facilitate the process of handling relationships. Social networking sites have improved the processes of purchasing and transacting online. In all these processes, websites collect a lot of information about online users, therefore, becoming largely useful to track and model consumer behaviors. Businesses are largely relying on businesses companies like Twitter, Facebook, as well as My Space, to market more products and services (Stephanos, 2004). Evidently, the social networking increases the business sales. Popular social networking sites, such as twitter, face book, as well as my space, are the appropriate for transferring product information across the borders. Advertisement is the most common method of business promotion done on-line. It is substantially effective, attracting customers for the product being advertise.

Communication Technologies

Internet technology has also realized a wide range of supportive communication technology developments. One of most celebrated development is cloud computing (Winams and Brown, 2009). Cloud computing refers to the phenomenon whereby computing is provided as a service instead of as a product. In this regard, computer software, computer shared resources as well as shared information is provide through a network, such as the internet, as a utility. Furthermore, Cloud computing services do not necessarily demand that the end user understands the physical location and the system service configurations in order to get services. This can be compare to the application of the electric grid, where the consumers use electric power yet it does not require of them to know and understand the device components that underlie the effective delivery of the electric power services.

Cloud computing currently acts as a supplement for Information Technology, its consumption as well as delivery models. It observes the protocol of the internet effectively to achieve these. Cloud computing encompasses provisioning of resources that are not only considered virtual but also other resources that are dynamically scalable. The cloud computing may seem to have originated as a byproduct of information technology, yet it plays a special role of offering an easy access of computing sites whose data centers are localized. There are various of characteristics that are essential to cloud computing. To begin with, the Cloud computing offers services which are automated (self-services). In this case, it does not require the end user to interact directly with service provider. Cloud computing providers who offer such type of self-services include Microsoft, Google, New York Times, among others. These companies apply AWS (NIST), characteristics which termed to as service based. Secondly, Cloud Computing offers a network access, which is broad. This may involve accesses using the mechanism that are standard; those that facilitate the use by various client platforms, irrespective of whether they are thin or thick platforms. Cloud computing is currently still at the initial stages of development. Yet there remains a great potential of cloud computing being widely adopted in field of information technology in the coming years (Huth and Cebula, 2010).

Collaborative Technologies

The most widely appraised collaborative technologies are internet supportive devices. These include phones, computers and modems, among others. Internet popularity has been particularly promote by the evolution of smart phones. It has also been popularized by the increase in the possession of computer devices. Mobile phones have increased the flexibility in which people access the internet while reducing the costs of networking. As opposed to the past when internet services could be access from computers that were never portable, it is now possible to access the internet from whatever location, all the convenience of the users. Users can access the internet even while travelling. The introduction of portable computers, also referred to as laptops, has also been pivotal in fostering the popularity of growth of internet (Abbate, 1999). Online services are now not only accessible through computers but also phones. The eventual implications of these have been enhanced delivery of other internet related services. For instance, the users have treated to a reduced online transaction costs. The public is now in the position of downloading and filling online forms with release. Besides these, technological development has been the increase the efficiency of the technologies. The usability of these devices have also been improving, adding to the internet surfing convenience.

Conclusion

From the look at the history, development and trend of the internet technology, many of points could be inferring. From its humble begins, it would be impossible for one to imagine that internet would grow to such popularity. Yet internet popularity grew so drastically that it became revolutionary. The popularity of the internet continues to grow, and this is exacerbate by the development internet supportive devices and the internet collaborative technologies. These developments are still on going and thus it is expect that the role of internet would be ubiquitous in the future.