Internet Timeline. World map dotted with computers. Text frame: \"Over the years, management of the ARPANET was transferred to the National Science Foundation, and in 1995, the Internet backbone was turned over to private enterprise. ARPANET had paved the way for the Internet.\" Interactive timeline of the history of the Internet. \"Navigational Instructions: Select on 1969-1980 to begin or use the scroll bar below. Note: To close and open nagivational instructions, select the question mark icon in the upper right corner.\" User can select a computer icon to learn more about that year. The years and information listed are as follows: 1969 – September, the first Interface Message Processor (IMP) is installed at UCLA and the first host computer is connected. Stanford Research Institute provides a second node.

1971 – The ARPANET grows to 23 hosts connecting universities and government research centers around the country.

1972 – Electronic Mail, or email, is introduced.

1973 – First international connections to ARPAnet by the University College in London, England and the Royal Radar Establishment in Norway.

1974 - Bolt, Beranek & Newman (BBN) opens Telenet, the first commercial version of ARPANET.

1975 – Operational management of Internet transferred to Defense Communication Agency (DCA), now Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

1976 - MFENet is established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) for its researchers in Magnetic Fusion Energy. DoE's High Energy Physicists in turn build HEPNet.

1979: AT&T creates USENET, a client-server link between University of North Carolina and Duke University.

1980 – 200 hosts on ARPANET.

1981 – 213 hosts on ARPANET with a new host added approximately every 20 days.

1982 – The term \"Internet\" is used for the first time.

1983 – The ARPANET is split into the MILNET, part of the Defense Data Network (DDN), supporting operational requirements and a smaller ARPANET supporting research needs.

1984 – Domain Name System (DNS) is introduced. DNS is an easy way to remember Internet address, such as www.defenselink.mil instead of 192.10.186.34.

1987 – The number of Internet hosts exceeds 10,000.

1988 – November 3, Robert Tappan Morris creates an Internet worm that burrows through the Internet using resources on one machine to attack other machines. The worm temporarily disables almost 6,000 of the 60,000 Internet hosts.
- The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is formed to address security concerns raised by the worm.

1989 – The number of Internet hosts exceeds 100,000.

1990 – ARPANET goes off line leaving only the vast network-of-networks called the Internet. The number of hosts exceeds 300,000.

1992 – World Wide Web is released by CERN, Conseil European pour la Recherchι Nucleaire (European Laboratory for Particle Physics; Geneva, Switzerland).
- The number of hosts exceeds 1,000,000.

1993 - US White House comes on-line:

  1. President Bill Clinton: president@whitehouse.gov
  2. Vice-President Al Gore: vice-president@whitehouse.gov

1995 - The first official Internet wiretap is successful in helping the Secret Service and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) apprehend three individuals who are illegally manufacturing and selling cell phone cloning equipment and electronic devices.

1996 – The Age of the Internet has arrived. Approximately 40 million people are connected to the Internet. The number of computer hosts approaches 10 million.
- The controversial US Communications Decency Act (CDA) becomes law in the US prohibiting the distribution of indecent materials over the Internet. A few months later a three-judge panel imposes an injunction against its enforcement.

1997 - Supreme Court unanimously rules most of the US Communications Decency Act (CDA) unconstitutional.

1999 – DoD issues a memo requiring all US military systems to connect to the Internet via NIPRNET by 15 Dec 1999.

2000 – Internet hosts number in the tens of millions.