So who gets credit for creating the Internet? Government? The military? Big corporations? Universities?

The answer is “all the above”. The Internet is the product of a free society, everyone working together, and sometimes working at odds with each other. It’s a triumph of an “official anarchy”.

Government threw money at many networks, including the TCP/IP Internet. TCP/IP was influenced by many things, among them the government. But what government most gave TCP/IP was its benign neglect as it spent its guidance, vision, leadership, and energy on developing the OSI network. This history important. If you believe those who say that it’s government’s unique vision that created the Internet, then you would naturally believe that the government should continue with their successful strategy of regulating and controlling the Internet. If you believe, as I do, that it’s the product of “official anarchy”, then you would agree that government should continue keeping its hands off the Internet.