The Cleveland Freenet Goes Online

On this day, July 16th, in 1986, The Cleveland Freenet (CFN) went online. CFN was a a free public community computer system, the first of its kind in the world. The success of CFN lead to the creation of other Freenet systems located throughout the world.

CFN would host several Special Interest Groups (SIGs) including an Atari SIG. When CFN first went online, users would dial into the system with a computer modem. Later, CFN would also allow Internet telnet connections. With Internet access, CFN's Atari SIG grew into the largest free online system dedicated to Atari computers and game consoles. The Atari SIG ceased operations when CFN went offline on September 30, 1999.  Although an active Atari SIG is no longer online, a web based archive is available here. You can also read more about the Cleveland Freenet here.