Actually, the first packet switching network dates back to ARPANET in the 1960's, which was created by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - notice the American spelling of 'Defense') which was under the US Department of Defense. The involvement of the DOD in its creation was a type of answer for keeping the government functioning after a nuclear attack, which in turn grew out of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway initiative. The British equivalent known as Mark I, was conceived in 1970, while the French packet switching network, CYCLADES, was a couple years later. While there is no individual responsible for the internet, it also cannot be said to have been solely the responsibility of one organization, since all subsequent "internets" have largely borrowed on and improved from ideas their predecessors formulated. Still, if you were looking for the first actual packet switching network, look no further than ARPANET. Alan Turing, a British subject, was the father of the modern computer which might be what you were thinking of.
Yes, a movement like the WT, not to mention the Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists, along with the umbrella evangelical movement have distinctly American attributes. Freedom of religion is enshrined in the US Constitution, and goes back even further than that to the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts (Anglican Puritans), Lord Baltimore's Maryland British Catholic haven, and William Penn's Quaker colony of Pennsylvania. From US grade school lessons onwards, it is burned into our consciousness about how the US was a beacon for persecuted religious sects. Thus, forming a sect is not as frowned upon as it might have been elsewhere. Regardless of who formed it and what the ideology contained, it was always their 'right' to do so. CT Russell would have been dismissed as an eccentric in Europe. Rutherford would have been thrown in jail for a lengthy sentence for agitation and libel. FW Franz would have been quickly labelled as a provincially minded zealot hack. In America, these men actually found followers which coalesced around their fanciful writings. CT Russell built upon the already existent Second Adventist movement in the late 19th Century. J.F. Rutherford tapped into American isolationism and populism by attacking the Church, clergy, League of Nations, and the business and medical establishment. F.W. Franz took advantage of the 1950's puritanical style morality which was the culture of the time. The Witnesses as we know them today are largely the creation of these three doctrinaire men who all had either dysfunctional (Russell and Rutherford) or non-existent (Franz) relationships with the opposite sex. These men, were products of their times and the prevailing culture of the time. With that said, I doubt a CT Russell could found anything other than an isolated rural church group nowadays in America. There was a closing window at the turn of the 20th century and Russell found his way in. With the notable exception of quasi-religious Scientology, there have been no significant religious movements founded in America in the 20th Century. The times have changed.