Re: [irtf-discuss] [Internet Policy] Why the World Must Resist Calls to Undermine the Internet

["[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>]

(List admin hat off)

Others have commented on various parts, but to address one not yet addressed:

> On Mar 15, 2022, at 1:49 AM, David Lloyd-Jones <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> Willi,
> ...
> First proposed by Bacon in the fifteenth century or so,

IMO, Chappe should get most of the credit. I found a vague reference to Bacon and the idea, but nothing specific (if you can point us to a citation, it’d be sincerely appreciated).

> the 'Net was a solid policy proposal made by Vannevar Bush in 1945.

In “As we may think,”, he proposed something more akin to the Web (i.e., a cross-linked database). In fact, he said "It consists of a desk, and while it can presumably be operated from a distance, it is primarily the piece of furniture at which he works.” - which is the opposite of “information at a distance” that is the core concept of networking. All the examples are of people creating their own encyclopedia, which misses the collaborative nature of the net.

> It was made possible by the invention of packet-switching in the mid-1960 to 70s.
> …
>  In fact packet-switching, the key invention, was largely the work of

Paul Baran and Donald Davies.

> Lenny Kleinrock, under whom Cerf studied as a university student.

, who (Len) made significant and key contributions to queuing theory, laying the theoretic foundations for what became packet switching, and which also had (and continues to have) many other uses at the time. Also important foundational work on the ARPAnet. 

But I haven’t seen him credited with *inventing* packet switching, though.

It’s also worth noting that Postel was a student at UCLA at the same time, though his PhD advisor was Dave Farber, who was at UC Irvine at the time. The two found a loophole that a PhD advisor in the UC system had to come from somewhere in the UC system, but not necessarily at the same school as the student.

Corrections from the gallery welcome, of course. 

Joe