New research from London university questions the creators of the internet

In November 2009 the world will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the birth of the internet - when three computers at different American universities were linked together by a Pentagon-funded project known as ARPANET. However, Professor Peter Willetts who is an expert on non-governmental organisation (NGOs) in global politics at City University London is going to present new research in which he will argue that the internet was actually created by NGOs.

His lecture - entitled Who Really Created The Internet? - will suggest that the ARPANET project only made minor contributions to the internet’s  technology. In fact Professor Willetts claims that the popular theory that the internet was planned as an American military command and control system which could survive a nuclear attack, is merely a myth.

Commenting on his research about the history of the internet, Professor Willetts says: ‘My research shows that NGOs are the real pioneers of the internet. It was computer experts working for peace, human rights and environmental NGOs who gave us the revolution in public communications.

‘Until NGOs intervened, there was no more than a disconnected set of separate government and commercial networks. NGOs made the global connections and gave us the revolution in public communications.’

Professor Willetts’ lecture takes place on Thursday 29th October - if you would like to attend click here.

For more information on City University London visit their website.

Content added on 16th October 2009.

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