Aleks in Wonderland: The International League of Geeky Gentlemen - Episode 1

Just how did the Internet become the most powerful communications
medium on the planet, and why does it seem to be an
uncontrollable medium for good and bad?


With no cross border regulation the internet can act as an
incredible force for connecting people and supporting human
rights and yet at the same time convey the most offensive
material imaginable. It has become the most useful research tool
on earth but also the most effective way of delivering threats to
the security of governments, the health service and on a personal
level our own identities.


In this series Aleks Krotoski unravels the complexity of the
internet, meeting the people who really invented it, looking
behind the myths and cultural constructs to explain what it
actually is and how it came to exist outside of conventional
regulation. We'll ask whether the nature of the net itself really
is cause for concern - and if so what can be done to reign in the
negatives of the internet without restricting the positives?


In this first episode we go back to the days before the internet
to look at the cultural and technological landscape from which it
grew, and unravel some of the key moments - now lost in time and
obscured by technology folklore, which mark when the internet
lost its innocence.


Produced by Julian Siddle. First broadcast on Wednesday 16 August
2017.