“The internet is a series of tubes filled with cats”

U. S. Senator Ted Stevens (1923-2010) of Alaska said in 2006 that “the Internet…is a series of tubes.” The comment was widely ridiculed in the Internet community.
   
Cat videos are popular on the internet, and it’s been joked that the cats get into the internet’s tubes. “Everyone knows that the internet is made up of tiny tubes carrying porn and pictures of funny cats” was cited on Twitter on February 18, 2009. “The Internet is a series of tubes, what is held together by cats” was cited on Twitter on September 3, 2009. The YouTube video The Internet Is Made Of Cats was uploaded on January 10, 2010.
 
Other sayings about cats and the internet include “The internet is full of cats because dog people go outside,” “Cats spend two-thirds of their lives sleeping, and the other third making viral videos” and “Cats would be even more stuck up if they knew how much the internet loves them.”
   
   
Wikipedia: Series of tubes
“A series of tubes” is a phrase coined originally as an analogy by then-United States Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to describe the Internet in the context of opposing network neutrality.  On June 28, 2006, he used this metaphor to criticize a proposed amendment to a committee bill. The amendment would have prohibited Internet Access providers such as AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon Communications from charging fees to give some companies’ data a higher priority in relation to other traffic. This metaphor has been widely ridiculed, despite the fact that he was in charge of regulating the Internet. Edward Felten, Princeton University professor of computer science, pointed out the unfairness of some criticisms of Stevens’ wording, while maintaining that the underlying arguments were rather weak.
   
Partial text of Stevens’ comments
“Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got… an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday. I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially.
 
[…] “They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes. And if you don’t understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it’s going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.”
       
Twitter
Saunders Bakery
@saundersbakery
@SylvanElf Everyone knows that the internet is made up of tiny tubes carrying porn and pictures of funny cats
9:30 AM - 18 Feb 2009
 
Twitter
Carly DeGraeve
@antibromide
Someone hit one of the internet tubes and lol cats are pouring out. No computer internet until it is fixed.
1:24 PM - 4 Mar 2009
 
Twitter
Kat Howard
@KatWithSword
@neilhimself The Internet is a series of tubes, what is held together by cats. Also, it’s really really great for porn.
3:07 PM - 3 Sep 2009
 
YouTube
The Internet Is Made Of Cats
Rathergood
Uploaded on Jan 14, 2010
The Internet Is Made Of Cats. This is FACT and also science.
     
Twitter
twoof news
@twoofnews
ICanHasCheezburger: The internet:
The internet is a series of tubes. And those tubes are full of cats.
an sumt… http://bit.ly/haRKoD
5:34 PM - 5 Apr 2011
 
KateCarruthers.com
True dat: the internet is a series of tubes, and those tubes are full of cats!
AUGUST 20, 2011 LOLCATS
 
WeKnowMems
The Internet Is A Series Of Tubes And Its Full Of Cats
– FEBRUARY 20, 2012
   
Bustle
February 15, 2009
How To Make Your Cat Internet Famous In 8 Simple Steps, Because It Deserves The Spotlight
EMILY KELLEY
@THATEMILYKELLEY
Remember that old joke that the Internet is just a series of tubes filled with cats? Well, thanks to Grumpy Cat, Lil’ Bub, Maru, and others, the Internet seems to be filled with talented felines — and yours could be the next famous Internet cat to win over the masses. OK, so maybe it’s not that simple, but you never know until you try, right?