An article in the Wall Street Journal tries to say business built the Internet. Ars Technica says government did. They're both right but both miss a critical element.
This all stems from the 'you didn't build that' moment spoken by Barack Obama in a speech which has many spitting fire. Gordon Crovitz in the Wall Street Journal has an article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444464304577539063008406518.html which explains his position that businesses created the Internet. Specifically, he singles out Xerox's PARC labs for praise in their work.
Ars Technica's Timothy B Lee counters with his article at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/07/wsj-mangles-history-to-argue-government-didnt-launch-the-internet by saying Vincent Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee, and others worked for research centers funded for government when they came up with the basics behind the Internet such as hyperlinking and TCP/IP.
So who is right?
Both, and here is why: it was a joint collaboration of business and government.
The basics of the technology behind TCP/IP were in competition with another servce, known as BitNet. Universities and government had access to these services, but business wanted in on the deal. So, ARPANet, referred in both articles above, had passed by this time to the National Science Foundation. NSF decided to allow TCP/IP-based NSFnet to be shared with businesses after much lobbying. Senator James J Exon of Nebraska wrote the bill to allow businesses access to NSFnet. (This, by the way, was co-sponsored by a number of Senators including Al Gore. His claim about the Internet, which has been roundly mocked and distorted, was due to his co-sponsorship of this bill. However, he wrote none of it, just put his name on it.)
When businesses took control of the TCP/IP NSFnet, it exploded into its current form today. While government had a huge hand in getting things started, it has been businesses to make it the way it is.
So, in essence, both men are correct, but Ars Technica is closer to the truth.
Editorial Note: The author's cousin was on the NSF board when they voted to hand it over to business.
Editorial Note #2: James J Exon was the author of the Child Online Protection Act which the courts eventually rejected. He had not anticipated the quick adoption of the medium by the porn industry. Being a conservative Democrat, he thus moved to protect children in a heavy handed way from his own creation.