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Why there's so little left of the early internet - BBC
It took nearly five years into the internet’s life before anyone made a concerted effort to archive it. Much of our earliest online activity has disappeared.
In 2005, student Alex Tew had a million-dollar brainwave.
The 20-year-old was playing around with ideas to pay for a looming three-year business degree; Tew was already worrying that the overdraft he had would mushroom. So he scribbled on a pad: “How to become a millionaire.”
Twenty minutes later he had what he thought was the answer.
Tew set up a website called the Million Dollar Homepage. The site’s model was almost obscenely simple: on it was a million pixels of ad space, the pixels available to buy in blocks of 100 at $1 a pixel. Once you bought them they were yours forever. When the millionth pixel was sold, Tew would be a millionaire. At least, that was the plan.
It took nearly five years into the internet’s life before anyone made a concerted effort to archive it. Much of our earliest online activity has disappeared.
In 2005, student Alex Tew had a million-dollar brainwave.
The 20-year-old was playing around with ideas to pay for a looming three-year business degree; Tew was already worrying that the overdraft he had would mushroom. So he scribbled on a pad: “How to become a millionaire.”
Twenty minutes later he had what he thought was the answer.
Tew set up a website called the Million Dollar Homepage. The site’s model was almost obscenely simple: on it was a million pixels of ad space, the pixels available to buy in blocks of 100 at $1 a pixel. Once you bought them they were yours forever. When the millionth pixel was sold, Tew would be a millionaire. At least, that was the plan.