Edanger.Com (Instant Messaging, Virtual Intimate Relations‪)‬

When Ray Tomlinson developed the first e-mail application in 1971, he did so for the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANet), a computer network built by and for the United States Department of Defense. (1,2) When Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau developed the protocols that gave rise to the World Wide Web in 1989, they did so for CERN, a laboratory in Geneva dedicated to high-energy physics and nuclear research. When Yair Goldfinger created instant messaging (IM) technology in 1996, he did so with three friends for Mirabilis, a company they started and initially ran from a basement in Israel. Each of these inventors had a clear purpose and intended application for their technology, whether it was to improve national defense, expedite research, enhance business efficiency, or facilitate interpersonal communication. Undoubtedly each was able to predict constructive unintended uses of their individual creations, as well as unexpected individual and global benefits. For example, Goldfinger developed his IM protocol with a $10,000 starter loan as a fun way for friends to stay in touch with one another. Yet just 2 years after its development Goldfinger and his partners sold Mirabilis to America Online (AOL) for over $400 million.