In 1996, the Web was young, but it was hot, and everyone was trying to figure out what it meant. While a lot has changed since then, here are 29 quotes from 1996 that were truly prescient. On the future of America Online “Ten years from now, America Online will have gone the way. Jan 03, 2014 Quotes about the Internet are difficult to capture from a Cyber world of 50 billion webpages. This collection represents a history of the World Wide Web itself. These quotes are from the inventors of the Internet, contributors to the technology, website developers, users, anthropologists and philosophers.

1. Jul 21, 2015 - Explore Direct Agents's board 'Internet Jokes' on Pinterest. See more ideas about bones funny, jokes, internet jokes.
2. Jul 09, 1999 'The Internet is like a gold-rush; the only people making money are those who sell the pans.' Will Hobbs, IUMA. uncofirmed source: Adam 'The Internet is like a large jellyfish. You can't step on it. You can't go around it. You have to go through it.' uncofirmed source: Adam 'The Internet is the most powerful magnifier of slack ever invented.'

This is a listing of quotations as a complement to my paper Why the Internet is Good. It is notthe end all and be all of cyber quotations. Instead, it is a selection ofquotations that I believe in some sense capture the governance of memes associal norms on the Internet.

reagle@mit.edu $20020527$

Policy

'Architecture is politics.' Kapor, Mitchell. (EFF)[source: confirmed by Kapor, estimates it was first said in 1991.]

'Inside every working anarchy, there's an Old BoyNetwork.'

Kapor, Mitchell. (EFF)[source: John Perry Barlow likening Burning Man to 'anotherworking anarchy, the Internet.' Confirmed by Kapor: 'It was somethingI came up with during my EFF era, early 1990's. I used it a lot in speeches,but have no record of specifically where/when I came up with it.I wasmarvelling at how the pre-commercial Internet managed to operate. I found outit was because folks like Steve Wolfe and the NSF, Rick Adams at UUNET, andVint Cerf used to reach agreements about what to do.' ]

'We reject kings, presidents and voting. We believe in roughconsensus and running code.'IETF Credo. David Clark (MIT).[source: confirmed. Clark says, 'This is a quote from a talk I gave to theIETF in 1992. The actual quote, printed on lots of t-shirts, is ... ']

'As the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed, theInternet deserves the highest protection from government intrusion.'Judge Dalzell, CDA panel. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.'John Gilmore (EFF). [source: Gilmore states: 'I have never foundwhere I first said this. But everyone believes it was me, as do I. If youfind an appearance of this quote from before March '94, please let me know.'Also in NYT 1/15/96, quoted in CACM 39(7):13. Later, Russell Nelson comments(and is confirmed by Gilmore) that on December 05 1993 Nelson sent Gilmore anemail stating, 'Great quote of you in Time magazine: 'The nettreats censorship as a defect and routesaround it.']

variant: 'The Internet interprets the US Congress as system damage and routes around it.' [source: apparently Jeanne DeVoto.]

related: 'You can't take something off the Internet - it's like taking pee out of a pool.' NewsRadio. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'National borders aren't even speed bumps on the informationsuperhighway.' Tim May. [source: primary. (May's signaturecirca 1996 as found in many archives.)]

'How many of you have broken no laws this month? That's the kindof society I want to build. I want a guarantee -- with physics andmathematics, not with laws -- that we can give ourselves real privacy ofpersonal communications.' John Gilmore (EFF). [source: Gilmore says:'Another memorable part of my speech on Privacy, Technology and theOpen Society from the First Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacyin 1991.']

'In Cyberspace, the First Amendment is a localordinance.'John Perry Barlow (EFF). [source: Kapor inforward to Big Dummies Guide to Internet.]

'On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog.' PeterSteiner. The New Yorker, page 61 of July 5 (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20), 1993. (graphic) There are many variants, including cartoons.[source: primary]

'Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtainorder by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightenedself-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge.' ADeclaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.John Perry Barlow. Davos, Switzerland. February 8, 1996. [source:primary]

'You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codesthat already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any ofyour impositions.' A Declaration of the Independence ofCyberspace. John Perry Barlow. Davos,Switzerland. February 8, 1996. [source:primary]

'We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May itbe more humane and fair than the world your governments have madebefore.' A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. John Perry Barlow. Davos, Switzerland. February 8,1996. [source:primary]

'Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like askinga peeping tom to install your window blinds.' John Perry Barlow(EFF). In Decryptingthe Puzzle Palace. Communicationsof the ACM. Vol.35, No. 7 (July 1992), pp. 25-31. [source: primary]

'[The Internet,] A Superhighwaythrough the Wasteland?'Mitchell Kapor and Jerry Berman. New York Times Op-Ed Page,Wednesday, November 24, 1993. [source: primary]

'The Internet isn't free. It just has an economy that makes nosense to capitalism.' Brad Shapcott. Rule $19.99 of Usenet Rules.[source: Net.LegendsFAQ]

'Cyberspace undeniably reflects some form of geography.'Justice O'Connor. [source: none]

'Technology is neither good nor bad, nor evenneutral. Technology is one part of the complex of relationships thatpeople form with each other and the world around them; it simply cannot beunderstood outside of that concept.' Samuel Collins. [source:unconfirm, quotationpage]

'Congress will pass a law restricting public comment on theInternet to individuals who have spent a minimum of one hour actuallyaccomplishing a specific task while on line.' Andrew Grove, IntelCorp CEO, NY Times, 1/2/96. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Cutting through the acronyms and argot that littered the hearingtestimony, the Internet may fairly be regarded as a never-ending worldwideconversation. The Government may not, through the CDA, interrupt thatconversation.' Judge Dalzell, CDA panel. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Your clickstream is your vote.' Joseph Reagle (W3C).[source: Guest lecture at MIT's4.195: Designing Electronic Commerce and Online Government class. Laterpublically expressed in correspondance (9/98) with Stanton McCandlish (EFF)on the Australian links list.]

'Just as the strength of the Internet is chaos, so the strength ofour liberty depends upon the chaos and cacophony of the unfettered speech theFirst Amendment protects.' Judge Dalzell, CDA panel. [uncofirmedsource: Adam]

'The single unifying force is what we don't want governmentrunning things.' Joe Simms (ICANN counsel.) [source: Lessig, Governance andthe DNS Process.]

'Encryption...is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. Itoffers a technical guarantee of privacy, regardless of who is running thegovernment... It's hard to think of a more powerful, less dangerous tool forliberty.' Esther Dyson, EFF. [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

Metaphors and Similes

'Usenet: the Global Watering Hole.' EFF's Extended Internet Guide. [source: primary?]

'Describing the Internet as the Network of Networks is like calling the Space Shuttle, a thing that flies.' John Lester.[uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.' Mitch Kapor. [uncofirmed source: Adam. (Reagle: I know this expression existed prior to its application to the Net because it was originally about MIT and was coined by Former MIT President Jerome Weisner, 'Getting an Education from MIT is like taking a drink from a Fire Hose.' In 1991 students captured the expression in a clever hack.) Kapor says it, 'sounds like something I'd say. As you note, it's simply a variation on an old theme.']

'In case you haven't heard, the Internet is not a superhighway.' Bill Washburn, Internet World, Feb 95. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Internet mailing lists are like Fox television shows. They have really cool previews, and they get you all excited about them, but they just don't live up to their promises.' John Dobbin. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'The Internet is like a gold-rush; the only people making money are those who sell the pans.' Will Hobbs, IUMA. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'The Internet is like a large jellyfish. You can't step on it. You can't go around it. You have to go through it..' [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'The Internet is the most powerful magnifier of slack ever invented..' [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'The net's a cross between an elephant and a white elephant sale: it never forgets, and it's always crap.' Nemo, writing for Suck, on the nature of the Internet. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind- boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it.' Gene Spafford, 1992. [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

'The Internet is a telephone system that's gotten uppity.' Clifford Stoll. [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

Characterization

'There's a lot of weirdos on the Internet.' Miss TexasTeen USA (during 1998 pageant) [source: unconfirmedweb pages]

'We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a milliontypewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now,thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.' Robert Wilensky[source: unconfirmedweb pages]

variant: 'There's a statistical theory that if you gave a million monkeys typewriters and set them to work, they'd eventually come up with the complete works of Shakespeare. Thanks to the Internet, we now know this isn't true.' Ian Hart. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

variant: 'There ARE 1 Million monkeys sitting at 1 Million typewriters... they can be found right here on the Internet.' [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard ofwhat is called the Worldwide Web.... Now even my cat has its own page.'President Clinton, during announcement of Next Generation Internetinitiative, 1996. [source: unconfirmedweb pages]

'Some jerk infected the Internet with an outright lie. It showshow easy it is to do and how credulous people are.' Kurt Vonnegut.[uncofirmed source: Adam]

'America Online customers are upset because the company hasdecided to allow advertising in its chat rooms. I can see why: you gotcomputer sex, you can download pornography, people are making dates with 10year-olds. Hey, what's this? A Pepsi ad? They're ruining the integrity of theInternet!' -- Jay Leno. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Clearly, the greatest obstacle to the Internet's mass acceptanceis its nonportability. Put bluntly: it can't be browsed while relaxing on thetoilet. A shame really, considering how well suited much of its content isfor precisely that arena.' www.suck.com. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'I think the Internet is underhyped. We think Java is bigger thanInet; so if Inet is even bigger than the hype, and Java is even bigger thanthat, well, you see where this is going.' Sun CTO Eric Schmidt.[uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Internet users are flocking to the Vatican's new Web site (sothey say). It turns out though, that most visitors are there to confess aftervisiting the Cindy Crawford site. Now, the faithful don't have to kiss thePope's ring - you just double click on it..' [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'On the Internet, some people find love at first byte..'[uncofirmed source: Adam]

'The Internet, of course, is more than a place to find pictures ofpeople having sex with dogs.' Philip Elmer-Dewitt, Time Magazine,7/3/95 p 40. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Unfortunately, it seems that the way Usenet is set up, women arethe zebras, and men are the lions, and the Internet is one bigSerenghetti.' Chris Zelek. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Well why don't you call the Internet and ask their techincalsupport personnel for help?' AOL tech support person. [uncofirmedsource: Adam]

'[The Internet provides] a delivery system for pathological statesof mind.' Phillip Adams. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Spending an evening on the World Wide Web is much like sittingdown to a dinner of Cheetos [sic],' says Cliff Stoll, a Berkeley astronomerwho has been using the Internet since 1975.'Two hours later your fingers areyellow and you're no longer hungry, but you haven't been nourished.'WSJ, 1/25/96. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'If some unemployed punk in New Jersey, can get a cassette to makelove to Elle McPherson for $19.95, this virtual reality stuff is going tomake crack look like Sanka.' - Dennis Miller [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

'This is the snobbery of the people on the Mayflower looking downtheir noses at the people who came over ON THE SECOND BOAT!' - MitchKapor, on Usenet elitism. unkown [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

Quotes Internet Abraham Lincoln

Misconceptions

'Angela has no friends or neighbors who can identify her, becausefor four years she has lived entirely on the Internet.' Caryn Jamesreviewing The Net. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'For the cost of a burger and fries, every family can now join theInternet community, said Tim Oren, vice president and general manager ofCompuServe's Internet Division.' M2 Presswire 161095. [uncofirmedsource: Adam]

'The Internet is a shallow and unreliable electronic repository ofdirty pictures, inaccurate rumors, bad spelling and worse grammar, inhabitedlargely by people with no demonstrable social skills.' Chronicle ofHigher Education, 4/11/97. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

Techie Culture

'Many web generations ago, the ARPA knights started a revolutionagainst the telco circuit-switching empire and determined to destroy thedeath stars and their twisted pairs. I was one of those knights when ourleader Vint Cerf, Father of the Internet, crossed over to the telco side ofthe force. Cerf Vader and legions of imperial stormlawyers are now defendingthe death stars against the insignificant ispwoks. The previous speaker inthis forum series, the Father of the Web, Tim-Berners-Lee-Po -- who speaksover 6,000,000,000 dialects -- has been captured by Java the Hutt. You areLuke and Leia. The death stars must be destroyed and I foresee it.'Bob Metcalfe (Ethernet inventor, 3Com founder, now VP at IDG). Probably firstused at the MIT Enterprise Forum satellite broadcast from MIT's KresgeAuditorium, June 26, 1997. [source: confirmed from author.]

'Ring around the Internet, A packet with a bit not set, ENQ ACKENQ ACK, We all go down!' Allon Stern, first written around 1990while at the University of Maryland. [unattributed at source: Adam, confirmed byauthor.]

'The Internet is full. Go away.' Networld/Interop '95t-shirt. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Greater Internet Ladies' Knitting Circle and TerroristSociety.' Leslie Devlin. [uncofirmed source: Adam]

'Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you acceptfrom others.' Jon Postel. (IETF) IETF networking protocol designmaxim. [source: USC]

'Usenet is 'the last uncensored mass medium.' SteveCrocker <aq817@cleveland.Freenet.Edu>[uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

The New Testament offers the basis for modern computer codingtheory, in the form of an affirmation of the binary number system. But letyour communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than thesecometh of evil. -- Matthew 5:37 unknown. [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

'Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministicmeans is, of course, living in a state of sin.' John von Neumann.[uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

'It was a typical net.exercise -- a screaming mob pounding on agreasy spot on the pavement, where used to lie the carcass of a deadhorse.' unkown [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

'You couldn't get a clue during the clue mating season in a fieldfull of horny clues if you smeared your body with clue musk and did the cluemating dance...' Edward Flaherty. [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

'Don't anthropomorphize computers. They don't like it.'unkown [uncofirmed source: Eclipse]

Web Sources:

Abe Lincoln Quotes Internet Quote

• Adam's Message List. Adam's list is an unconfirmed but highly trusted secondary source.
• Gilmore sources. www.toad.com
• Signature Quotes: Computers & Networking. http://www.ultranet.com/~eclipse/misc/puter-sigs.shtml <e.c.l.i.p.s.e@u.l.t.r.a.n.e.t.com.>

Certain film lines stick with us far beyond a movie's theater run. Despite time barriers and changes in technology, these classics still pop up regularly in today's pop culture references.

Yet times have changed, and these famous quotes don't quite connect to the digital age. Dorothy wouldn't have woken up lost in Kansas without at least questioning the reliability of her GPS.

See also: Internet, Keep Your Damn Hands Off My Rom Coms

Quotes Internet Addiction

Comedians Paul Gale and Adam Lapetina gave these timeless lines an update that even the purest cinephiles can't refuse — or at least not laugh at.

Image: Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images