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Initial concepts of packet networking
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Stemming from an interest in the survivability of communications networks
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Arpanet
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Performance Systems International begins offering TCP/IP network services to businesses.
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the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Computer Science Network
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Ethernet product for workstation computers followed by a version for personal computers.
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Apple Macintosh is launched.
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the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture and commerce, including the rise of near-instant communication by electronic mail, instant messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls, two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites.
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The dawn of internet music and video piracy controversies rises with the introduction of the Napster file-sharing software by Shawn Fanning, a college student.
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Microsoft is ordered to break into two separate businesses
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Napster is shut down after it fails to win a lawsuit brought by the Recording Industry Association of America.
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The rise of spam; unsolicited junk mail messages begin to account for over half of all e-mail messages sent and received. Though the US Congress passes anti-spam legislation, the scourge of unsolicited email remains.