How did the Internet change from a government research project to a commercial network?

The transformation of the Internet from a government-funded research project into a commercial network was a gradual process of devolution from state stewardship to private-sector participation.1

Initially, the ARPANET was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense to link research institutions. Throughout the 1980s, the National Science Foundation (NSF) expanded this infrastructure by funding the NSFNET backbone to connect supercomputing centers and academic communities.21

Commercialization accelerated as the NSF began allowing commercial e-mail providers access to the network in the late 1980s. By 1993, federal legislation permitted the NSFNET backbone to be opened to commercial users, as the government recognized that private services could more efficiently meet networking needs. Consequently, the NSF withdrew its support for the infrastructure in 1995, having fostered a competitive environment of commercial backbones. This transition was further propelled by the introduction of user-friendly browsers like Mosaic, which simplified access for the general public and spurred rapid growth in commercial Internet service providers.31