
35The Internet Is the New Wild West
founder Marc Andreessen took home at least $500 million, while Old
West gold rush originator James Marshall went broke and eventually
relied on the state for assistance.
7
The Internet Developed a Frontier Culture
As a result of its cultural isolation, the young Internet developed its
own manners, rules, and conduct apart from the culture of the “off -
line” society. The most obvious signal that things were different on-
line was the unique vocabulary of the Internet; most users quickly
began to use and understand emoticons like “:)” and “:(“and new
acronyms like “LOL” (which morphed from “lots of love” in hand-
written ...