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NSA Monitoring Program
Former NSA contractor and CIA employee, Edward Snowden, revealed monitoring program put in place by the NSA. The program had the ability to tap into the communications of many people, thousands even, including U.S. citizens. -
Online Banking
Reports displayed U.S. adults banking online to be at 51%, according to Pew Research Center who conducted the survey. -
Smartphones
The majority of Americans, 56%, own some kind of smartphone. -
Internet Hosts
Internet hosts numbers surpass 1 billion. -
gTLDs
New addition of gTLDs to root zone domain name. -
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Web Changes
Media streaming, online businesses and social network dominates the web. The selling of albums for music becomes overtaken by singles. -
Discovery of Coding Error
In OpenSSL, a coding error was discovered, encryption software making transactions between a remote secure and a computer, making users vulnerable to personal information, passwords and usernames being stolen. Millions of social media sites, Internet commerce companies, government sites, banks and email services rely on secure transactions conducted by OpenSSL. -
Whatsapp
Facebook buys Whatsapp messaging app for $19 billion. -
Internet Relationships
Internet users ranging from 18-29 in age in serious relationships, 45% say the internet had an impact and influence on their relationship. -
New Latin gTLDs
The start of registration for the beginning of hundreds of new Latin gTLDs, this includes .ventures, .guru, .holdings, .singles, .bike, .plumbing, and .clothing. -
Increase of Instagram Users
Photo-sharing site, Instagram, reached users of 400 million, surpassing Twitter, which reached users of 316 million. -
General Assembly Session: ONE; Universal Internet Access
At the 70th annual General Assembly session, Mark Zuckerberg spoke to garner support and increase awareness of the initiative ONE. This organization is taking action in hopes to end preventable disease and extreme poverty. Zuckerberg's goal is for universal Internet access, Internet for the masses, claiming it is basic human rights and a vital tool in fighting to achieve and maintain global peace. -
Title II Provision
Federal Communications Act provision, providing legal framework for Open Internet, in other words net neutrality, dictating Verizon and ComCast, ISPs, having to deliver, without discrimination, content to users. -
WordPress
WordPress influences 25% of sites on the web. -
Google Assistant
Google revealed Google Assistant, a personal assistant program that is voice-activated. Google joined Cortana from Microsoft, Siri from Apple and Amazon's Alexa. -
25th Anniversary
Celebration of the 25th anniversary by Internet Society -
United Nations Human Rights Council
The adoption of resolution by the United Human Rights Council on the enjoyment, protection and promotion on the Internet concerning human rights. -
ICANN
The introduction by the ICANN from 2012 of the 1000th gTLD application window. -
Net Neutrality
The FCC completely flattened the balanced playing field, the field on which internet at one time stood with the revolutionary vote to revoke net neutrality. Where control was once in the users hand, control over their own experience on the internet, control and power has now been granted and shifted to service providers. -
IETF
Agreement between the National Library of Sweden and IETF for the archival in NLS' bunker of RFC series. -
Statistics
YouTube reaches 1.5B active monthly users, Facebook 2B, Twitter 330M, Instagram 700M, WeChat 889M and WhatsApp 1.2B. -
Encrypted Media Extensions
Announcement of publication, Encrypted Media Extensions, by W3C. The web-based management capability digital-rights, causes the first request appeal in its history. -
Social Media Trends
Almost 2.5 billion users are now on social media. Trends emerging include the mobile aspect, Chatbots and social messaging, which are becoming the standard norm. We are seeing the effects and benefits on businesses, social customer service, user-generated content, reach and engagement. We also see the money being poured into social ads by businesses.
