July 1998 I. Introduction . The Internet began in the 1960's as a decentralized, packet-switched network of computers funded by the Department of Defense, intended to facilitate communication in the United States in the event of a nuclear attack. In the late 1970's, universities and other nongovernmental entities started linking with the Department of Defense net. Among other Internet applications, the World Wide Web is the most popular.
Sites can contain pictures, text and sound in static or moving form.
The World Wide Web brings together file transfer protocol, hypertext files, e-mail and other resources linked together on a global basis. Other Internet applications important for disseminating information are the bulletin board and mailing list. The bulletin board allows written messages, responses and new messages from a number of persons to be posted or downloaded from a given Internet location. The mailing list provides a way for network users who share interest in a given topic to exchange messages by sending a message to a central address where it is automatically rebroadcast to all other participants. The Mushrooming Use of the Internet for Securities Transactions .