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The "series of tubes" comment was Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, not Al Gore. "Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own perso

by frob 4y ago

The "series of tubes" comment was Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, not Al Gore. "Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got... an Internet [email] was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday. I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially. [...] They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material."

ejb999 4y ago
Yea, AL Gore only claimed to have created the internet: "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." - Al Gore, 3/9/1999
- frob 4y ago
  Here's a Snopes article fleshing out the context around that 8-word quote: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/ Summary is that he is obviously referring to work around regulation, permitting, and oversight.
- hh3k0 4y ago
  https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  It's not an entirely unfair claim. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_techno... Vint Cerf is on record saying "Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development." https://www.theregister.com/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ https://www.theregister.com/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cer...
  - shkkmo 4y ago
    For a few more concrete details: > As a Senator in the 1980s Gore urged government agencies to consolidate what at the time were several dozen different and unconnected networks into an “Interagency Network.” Working in a bi-partisan manner with officials in Ronald Reagan and George Bush’s administrations, Gore secured the passage of the High Performance Computing and Communications Act in 1991. This “Gore Act” supported the National Research and Education Network (NREN) initiative that became one of the major vehicles for the spread of the Internet beyond the field of computer science.
- BryanBeshore 4y ago
  A true Greg Jennings
- Threeve303 4y ago
  He also invented algorithms
bombcar 4y ago
I mean the core point isn’t completely wrong; the tubes are of a certain size and will get overloaded at some point. Though the trucks would, too.
- noneeeed 4y ago
  It's not the most coherent explanation, but the "series of tubes" metaphore was perfectly fine for it's audience when trying to explain that contention for bandwidth is a thing. The mockery from the tech community was out of proportion.
- jklinger410 4y ago
  I always felt like he got unfairly mocked for that series of tubes comment.
  - mikeyouse 4y ago
    Read the quote directly above the comment you're replying to. There's giving someone the benefit of the doubt, then there's mocking one of the more corrupt Senators who claimed that an email was delayed by a few days due to what he was essentially calling network congestion, and using that as an argument against network neutrality -- while taking just truckloads of telecom lobbyist cash into his campaigns. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/washington/22stevens.html https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/washington/22stevens.html You could in theory make a sound argument about why the internet is just a series of tubes and make honest arguments about their capacity and the capital investment needed to keep up with the growth in data and increase in bandwidth requirements. Stevens did none of those things.
- benrow 4y ago
  Yes, this made me think of buffer bloat: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufferbloat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufferbloat

by frob 4y ago

ejb999 4y ago

Yea, AL Gore only claimed to have created the internet: "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." - Al Gore, 3/9/1999

frob 4y ago
Here's a Snopes article fleshing out the context around that 8-word quote: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/ Summary is that he is obviously referring to work around regulation, permitting, and oversight.
hh3k0 4y ago
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/
ceejayoz 4y ago
It's not an entirely unfair claim. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_techno... Vint Cerf is on record saying "Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development." https://www.theregister.com/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ https://www.theregister.com/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cer...
- shkkmo 4y ago
  For a few more concrete details: > As a Senator in the 1980s Gore urged government agencies to consolidate what at the time were several dozen different and unconnected networks into an “Interagency Network.” Working in a bi-partisan manner with officials in Ronald Reagan and George Bush’s administrations, Gore secured the passage of the High Performance Computing and Communications Act in 1991. This “Gore Act” supported the National Research and Education Network (NREN) initiative that became one of the major vehicles for the spread of the Internet beyond the field of computer science.
BryanBeshore 4y ago
A true Greg Jennings
Threeve303 4y ago
He also invented algorithms

bombcar 4y ago

I mean the core point isn’t completely wrong; the tubes are of a certain size and will get overloaded at some point. Though the trucks would, too.

noneeeed 4y ago
It's not the most coherent explanation, but the "series of tubes" metaphore was perfectly fine for it's audience when trying to explain that contention for bandwidth is a thing. The mockery from the tech community was out of proportion.
jklinger410 4y ago
I always felt like he got unfairly mocked for that series of tubes comment.
- mikeyouse 4y ago
  Read the quote directly above the comment you're replying to. There's giving someone the benefit of the doubt, then there's mocking one of the more corrupt Senators who claimed that an email was delayed by a few days due to what he was essentially calling network congestion, and using that as an argument against network neutrality -- while taking just truckloads of telecom lobbyist cash into his campaigns. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/washington/22stevens.html https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/washington/22stevens.html You could in theory make a sound argument about why the internet is just a series of tubes and make honest arguments about their capacity and the capital investment needed to keep up with the growth in data and increase in bandwidth requirements. Stevens did none of those things.
benrow 4y ago
Yes, this made me think of buffer bloat: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufferbloat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufferbloat