May 97: The White House intervenes in Internet dispute about who will assign domain names. At present, a company called InterNIC holds this power. June 27th: A problem occurs with the main computer in the Domain Name System run by InterNIC. July 3rd: Rumours circulate that security breach would cause havoc on the Internet the following day, Independence Day. The day passes without event.
July 12: A hacker appears to penetrate a root name server at InterNIC, causing disruption. July 14: A rival DNS company AlterNIC, mounts an attack on the DNS of InterNIC, redirecting Web traffic to a spoof Web site. July 17th: Web sites disappear, emails go undelivered or lost, the Net is in chaos. The Net moves closer to meltdown than ever before. The problem is traced to an "unprecedented" malfunction in InterNIC's DNS servers. July 18th: Internet traffic slows as the "ripples" of the previous day's failures are felt.