Government funding did indeed help to create the foundation of what became the internet, but for years they didn't know what to do with the technology. that's

Government funding did indeed help to create the foundation of what became the internet, but for years they didn't know what to do with the technology. that's part of where the current situation comes from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayh%E2%80%93Dole_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayh%E2%80%93Dole_Act A law passed in 1980 which enables private ownership of the results of government research. Part of the justification: "The U.S. government had accumulated 28,000 patents but fewer than 5% of those patents were commercially licensed."