# 1999 VHS • Internet Basics 60 FPS

Internet Basics is an educational video produced by The Standard Deviants, hosted by Lara Hopewell with a recurring character called Internet Charlie, who is introduced as having been online continuously since December 1992. The program is structured as a one-hour course covering internet history, equipment, email, electronic discussion groups, online security, the World Wide Web, search engines, and internet etiquette. The history section traces the internet from its ARPANET origins through its growth to 50 million users in five years, faster than radio took 40 years and television 13 years to reach the same threshold. Topics covered include how to choose an internet service provider, the difference between local and national providers, how browsers and URLs work, how to navigate to and bookmark websites, how to compose, reply to, forward, and manage email including sending to multiple recipients, how newsgroups and mailing lists function, online safety and privacy practices, how search engines index and rank pages, Boolean search operators, and internet etiquette including common abbreviations such as IMHO, BTW, ROFL, PMFBI, and TIA. The program closes with a discussion of spam mail and links to consumer reporting resources including spam.abuse.net and abuse.net. The Standard Deviants are identified as a 15-time Tele Award winner for Best Educational Video.

- Kind: Film
- Year: 1999
- By: The Vista Group®
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/TheVistaGroup-InternetBasics1999)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/TheVistaGroup-InternetBasics1999?play=1)