the international linking of tens of thousands of businesses, universities, and research organizations with millions of individual users. It is what United States President Al Gore first publicly referred to as the information superhighway. What is now known as the Internet was originally formed in 1970 as a military network called ARPAnet (Advanced Research Projects Agency network) as part of the Department of Defense. The network opened to non-military users in the 1970s, when universities and companies doing defense-related research were given access, and flourished in the late 1980s as most universities and many businesses around the world online. In 1993, when commercial providers were first permitted to sell Internet connections to individuals, usage of the network exploded. Millions of new users came on within months, and a new era of computer communications began. Most networks on the Internet make certain files available to other. These common files can be databases, programs, or E-mail from the individuals on the network. With hundreds of thousands of international sites each providing thousands of pieces of data, it's easy to imagine the mass of raw data available to users. The Internet is by no means the only way in which computer users can communicate with others. Several commercial online services provide connections to members who pay a monthly connect-time fee. CompuServe, America OnLine, Prodigy, Genie, and several others provide a tremendous range of information and services, including online conferencing, electronic mail transfer, program downloading, current weather and stock market information, travel and entertainment information, access to encyclopedias and other reference works, and ...
