30 Oct 2009

40th anniversary of first message on internet

9:05 pm on 30 October 2009

Exactly 40 years ago a United States academic sent the first ever electronic message from a computer at the University of California to a terminal at Stanford University.

Professor Leonard Kleinrock headed the team that first linked computers online in 1969, heralding the start of the internet era.

Professor Kleinrock told the BBC he didn't expect it to develop a dark side.

He says the computer attacks, identity theft and fraud that came later were unexpected, because the culture in the first stage was one of trust.

Other scripts approved for addresses

The BBC says internet's regulatory body, ICANN, has approved the use of internet addresses written in Chinese, Arabic, and other non-Latin scripts.

ICANN says the native language of more than half of all internet users does not use a Latin script.