Thats another misconception. The US government funds very little of the Internet.
The US government funded that very early development of the net back in the 70s, but that is no longer the case. All the US pays now is the hosting of (SOME OF) the root servers, these would probably fit in your bathroom.
The net is built via a "Bring Your Own Bandwidth" model, by thousands of little ISPs buying service from bigger telco and long distance carriers, under sea cable operators etc.
And its all funded by (Pay Attention, this is important:) you and me, and every little subscriber from Bug Tussle Mississippi to Leningrad. We bought it, we built it, we pay for it out of our own pocket.
"And its all funded by (Pay Attention, this is important:) you and me, and every little subscriber from Bug Tussle Mississippi to Leningrad. We bought it, we built it, we pay for it out of our own pocket."
I am not sure but I think that is generally what most of the posters mean.. even if they are not aware of it.