A secret Pentagon project, the internet, served as a communication network that would remain intact, even if several of its strands were broken. While most of the world was celebrating Woodstock, two computers in southern California exchanged information.

The net has emerged into mainstream culture after Tim Berners-Lee thought up a structure of links and addresses for sending data - unhampered by central authority and proprietary software - bringing the internet to life and effectively making the globe a village by fostering the sharing of information.