On the last day of April 1995 the internet stopped belonging to the government.

For years the backbone of the American internet was NSFNET, a research network with rules against using it to make money. On April 30, 1995 it was switched off and the traffic moved onto commercial lines.

In one administrative act the internet went from a science project to open ground. People remember the IPOs and the browsers. The real starting gun was quieter: a policy change that said, out loud, you are allowed to build a business here now.

I spent the next thirty years walking through gates like that one. The opening is rarely loud. You have to be watching.