Look Who it Was Random video

The First Spam E-Mail and Other Tales from the Early Internet

2,549 views · Published 17 April 2013 · 1:42 · Indexed 9 October 2026

Channel: World Science Festival · 2013 · Science & Technology

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ABC News correspondent John Donvan asks Vint Cerf, the man often referred to as the "Father of the Internet", what his expectations were of the revolutionary technology he had helped build. Did he ever envision that one day, billions of people would be using e-mail? Cerf shares some stories about the early internet, including one particularly egregious faux pas.

Vinton Cerf, a vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, is widely known as one of the founding fathers of the Internet. In the 1970s, Cerf co-designed the network's architecture and the protocols it uses to communicate, and he has been instrumental in shaping its direction in the decades since. As a former vice president at MCI Communications, he led the development of the first commercial e-mail service to be connected to the Internet. From 2000 to 2007 he served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the Internet's growth and coordinates the addresses it uses. At Google, he focuses on identifying new technologies that will help build the next generation of Internet applications.

Watch the Full Program Here: https://youtu.be/WkAwZmCm2Fs
Original Program Date: June 2, 2012

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