The 17th May is known as ‘World Internet Day’, but this year’s celebrations could bring a new twist in the world wide web’s tale: an Argentine group is claiming the word ‘internet’ originated here in the 1950s – some 14 years before the internet as we know it was officially launched in 1969 – and wants rights over it.
In 1955 an underwear brand was launched called ‘Internet’, as evidenced in the 14th July 1956 issue of Radiolandia magazine, where an advert for a bra is clear in its titling.
And now a portal – www.internetesargentina.com – has been created to reclaim the title. With the slogan ‘Internet, since 1956 in Argentina’, it says: “We claim intellectual property rights for all Argentines! We are not going to win money, but with this we can be smug for years.”
