N-1-1-070.10 Internet in the News by Vint Cerf* Any system with the size and geographic scope of the Internet is bound to find itself at the core of newsworthy events. I suppose this is the natural consequence of the evolution of all infrastructure. Most people pay little attention to the power system or the road system until something goes wrong. THEN these quietly-serving infrastructures suddenly get a good deal of local, regional and, sometimes national or even international attention. So it seems to be with the Internet and the various activities surrounding it. The Internet is frequently mentioned in the trade press as the largest collaborative internetworking system ever built (and it is still GROWING!). Its very scale almost guarantees that some things that happen in the Internet environment earn international attention. For instance, Cable News Network (CNN) ran stories recently about the use of the Internet in Project Gutenberg (headquartered in the state of Illinois in the US) to disseminate public domain books and about Dutch hackers who spend their time attempting to break into various hosts on the Internet, especially those operated by the U.S. Department of Defense. More often, it is the standards-making activity which attracts trade press attention. Recent announcements of plans for support of Privacy-Enhanced Mail and the adoption of Open Shortest Path First routing garnered considerable attention. The Internet Society, itself, has caused no little stir in many circles. The Chronicle for Higher Education ran a recent story about the formation of the Society and this led to a small storm of queries and applications for membership which descended on the staff of the Internet Society secretariat. Not long ago, a special arm of the US Agency for International Development, Volunteers in Technical Assistance, announced their plans to use the Internet to assist in disaster relief planning and coordination. The Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union announced plans to place on-line copies of all CCITT standards document in archives accessible to Internet users. Announcements of commercial Internet service offerings from Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom and the United States seem to pepper the news with increasing regularity. Another sign that the Internet is outgrowing its historical research focus. Similarly, strong interest in the Internet in the Library community and among elementary and secondary school educators reflects yet other facets of the increasingly diverse communities relying upon and exploring new uses of this global system. *Vice President, Corporation for National Research Initiatives