ng the path, the MIS department figured out they were a cheap replacement for the coaxial cable used to connect expensive terminals to mainframe computers. When the Internet came along, what did the business connect it to? For sure they didn't connect it to the telephone system. Cable television operators discovered cable modems could provide Internet access. This immediately made a significantly positive impact on revenue from an incremental investment, far less than the incre- mental investment required to offer telephone service using SONET/ SDH equipment. These devices connect to a PC, not a telephone. BROADCASTING AND THE INTERNET "Fortunately, nobody owns the Internet, there is no centralized control, and nobody can turn it off"-Saltzer et al2 2 INTERNET AND TELECOM: A BRIEF HISTORY Conceptually, the Internet is seen and promoted by its proponents as a wholesale replacement for classical telecom networks. Their concept of the Internet is essentially a dumb pipe or set of pipes, any of which can be used to provide end-to-end service without a single point of failure under control of, and at will of, the user. They see it as a utopian replacement for the telecom network, which they view as a rigid, monolithic entity made up of interfaces with the user on one side and control of services by the network provider or carrier on the other. As long as it's here and established, we should relax and enjoy it, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, when it's practical and makes sense, and no, when it's impractical and doesn't make sense. To some, the Inter- net is anything and everything anyone could ever possibly want. Sure it's valuable and society benefits greatly from it. From a classical broadcasting perspective, it's a mixed bag, and like anything new on the overall landscape from smoke signals and drum pounding to modern communications, it represents threats and opportunities. Perhaps an appropriate way to view the Internet is to see it as another way to move information and maintain contact between us human beings. The