Was it really only 25 years ago.

mike-s wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
And just to clarify the "Al Gore invented the Internet" nonsense, he never made that claim. His exact quote... was:

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

You're seriously claiming that "invented the Internet" is significantly different than "took the initiative in creating the Internet" in colloquial meaning? Ha.

ARPANET, which was the start of what we now call the Internet, began in 1971 when Al Gore was in Divinity School. He didn't initiate the Internet, it existed long before he had any ability to do so. Sure, he later provided support for it as a Congressman, but that wasn't creation or initiative.

ARPANET didn't become known as the public Internet until Al Gore's "High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991" was signed by President George H. W. Bush and led to the creation of the National Information Infrastructure. The Internet as we know it today didn't exist until 1993. Look at it any you want to, but Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf see Al Gore's contributions to the Internet this way:

Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development.

No one person or even small group of persons exclusively “invented” the Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people in government and the university community. But as the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore’s contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time.

And also from Kahn and Cerf:

As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high-speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship [...] the Internet, as we know it today, was not deployed until 1993. When the Internet was still in the early stages of its deployment, Congressman Gore provided intellectual leadership by helping create the vision of the potential benefits of high speed computing and communication. As an example, he sponsored hearings on how advanced technologies might be put to use in areas like coordinating the response of government agencies to natural disasters and other crises.

And from Len Kleinrock (one of the ARPANET creators) would later credit both Gore and the "Gore Bill" as a critical moment in Internet history:

A second development occurred around this time, namely, then-Senator Al Gore, a strong and knowledgeable proponent of the Internet, promoted legislation that resulted in President George H.W Bush signing the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991. This Act allocated $600 million for high performance computing and for the creation of the National Research and Education Network [13–14]. The NREN brought together industry, academia and government in a joint effort to accelerate the development and deployment of gigabit/sec networking.

I am not an Al Gore fan by any stretch, but I do believe in giving credit where it's due. As part a political campaign statement regarding his political accomplishments in comparison to his opponent, his statement is valid.