| 1969 | A physical network known as Arpanet is commissioned by the Department of Defense for military research. It links nodes at three universities in California and one in Utah. |
| 1972 | Ray Tomlinson of BBN Technologies creates the first network e-mail program and uses "@" in the address. |
| 1976 | Robert M. Metcalfe develops Ethernet, which allows coaxial cable to move data very fast. |
| 1983 | (Jan 1) Generally considered the birth date of the Internet. Every machine connected to Arpanet has to use a new protocol, TCP/IP, which allows computers from different networks to connect. |
| 1984 | Number of computers connected to the Internet hits 1000. |
| 1988 | The Morris Worm, the first Internet virus, is created by a Cornell University graduate student, causing much of the young network to crash. |
| 1990 | The Arpanet officially becomes the Internet. |
| 1992 | The World Wide Web and first Web browser, which makes it easy for users to call up Web pages, is created by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in Switzerland. An early version of America Online is introduced. |
| 1994 | The creation of Netscape brings browsing to the masses. Two attorneys send first spam e-mail, known as the Green Card Spam, to online newsgroups. |
| 1998 | The e-commerce explosion begins when Amazon.com posts $1 billion in yearly sales. First use of high-speed digital subscriber line (DSL), in California. |
| 2000 | Dot-com bubble goes bust, dragging down the stock market. |
| 2003 | Sixty-three percent of all American adults and 75 percent of U.S. teens say they have used the Internet. |
