[e2e] Nature mag, DARPA, and the Internet

[John Day]

At 11:12 -0700 8/9/03, Bob Braden wrote:
>   *>
>   *> Mea culpa on the mouse. Again the DARPA PR engine has failed us. NLS
>   *> might be a good ref for email too, for that matter.
>   *>
>   *> Joe
>   *>
>
>No, email originated under Multics and then at BBN -- both were
>DARPA funded.

Are you sure about Multics?  The reason I ask is that I distinctly 
remember that to implement email in FTP Multics added a new access 
control parameter: append.  So the parameters were read, write and 
append.  In other words, you had permission to add stuff to the end 
of a file, but not to write any where in the file.  Now that said, I 
find it hard to believe that Multics didn't have some sort of mail 
function prior to 1973.  Perhaps each piece of mail was a separate 
file?  Can one of the old Multics hackers whose memory is better than 
mine clarify the situation.

Take care,
John