Although the Internet has become ubiquitous, hardly anybody has a clear picture of its economic, political and technical hierarchies. Understanding this major technological development enables to gain an idea of the socio-economic powers structuring the Internet. World-Information.Org investigates the common legend that the Internet is highly decentralized and diversified and therefore not easily controllable and provides an assessment of the architectural properties of this network. It aims at making transparent the
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Claude Chappe built a fixed optical network between Paris and Lille. Covering a distance of about 240kms, it consisted of fifteen towers with semaphores.
Because this communication system was destined to practical military use, the transmitted messages were encoded. The messages were kept such secretly, even those who transmit them from tower to tower did not capture their meaning, they just transmitted codes they did not understand. Depending on weather conditions, messages could be sent at a speed of 2880 kms/hr at best.
Forerunners of Chappe's optical network are the
For more information on early communication networks see