1. <jargon, networking> (Or "the net") The union of all the
major noncommercial, academic and hacker-oriented networks,
such as Internet, the old ARPANET, NSFnet, BITNET, and
the virtual UUCP and Usenet "networks", plus the corporate
in-house networks and commercial time-sharing services (such
as CompuServe) that gateway to them.
A site was generally considered "on the network" if it could
be reached by electronic mail through some combination of
Internet-style (@-sign) and UUCP (bang-path) addresses.
Since the explosion of the Internet in the mid 1990s, the term
is now synonymous with the Internet.
See network address.
2. <body> A fictional conspiracy of libertarian
hacker-subversives and anti-authoritarian monkeywrenchers
described in Robert Anton Wilson's novel "Schrödinger's Cat",
to which many hackers have subsequently decided they belong
(this is an example of ha ha only serious).
[Jargon File]
(1999-01-26)
Nearby terms:
Network Solutions, Inc. « network storm « Network Termination « network, the » Network Time Protocol » network transparency » NetX
