Provisions for photographs are included in the US Copyright Act.
May 17
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is established in Paris at the first International Telegraph Convention; ITU is now a specialised agency of the United Nations.
July 23
SS Great Eastern [right], the world’s largest ship, sets out from Valentia, Ireland to lay a submarine cable across the Atlantic for the Atlantic Telegraph Company. The cable snaps after 1,186 nautical miles.
J W and I S Hyatt in USA start commercial production of celluloid.
See also 1861, 1870
1866
July 13-July 27
First lasting transatlantic telegraph cable is laid by SS Great Eastern from Valentia, Ireland to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland and brought into operation. The ship then retrieves the broken cable from the previous attempt, splices on a new length and reaches Heart’s Content on September 8 with the second cable. Further cables are laid until 1884; parts of the 1873 cable remain in use until the 1950s.
October
Radio telegraphy is demonstrated by Dr Mahlon Loomis (1826-1886) [right] over 22km at Bear’s Den, Loudoun County, Virginia, USA.
1867
February 13
Premiere of Johann Strauss's waltz An der schönen blauen Donau (The Blue Danube) in Vienna.
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UK parliamentary Select Committee, preparing for 1868 Electric Telegraphy Act, recommends 'that it is not desirable that the transmission of messages for the public should become a legal monopoly of the Post Office'.
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Charles Cros (1842-1888), French poet and scientist and friend of Verlaine and Manet, discovers a practical three-colour photographic system.
John Barnes Linnet, a British printer, patents the kineograph (better known as a 'flip-book or 'flicker-book'). In German the device is called Daumenkino (thumb cinema).
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Principle of subtractive colour synthesis described by Arthur-Louis Ducos du Hauron: combining images from each of which all light but that of a particular colour has been filtered out will recreate the colours of the original.
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Telegraph Act (31&32 Vict c.73) empowers the British Post Office to establish or acquire telegraph operations in the public interest wherever private enterprises are not providing services. It effectivele paves the way for a government monopoly ('exclusive privilege') in the telegram service, with exemptions for railways, canal and certain other companies.
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The Daily News installs American Hoe Company presses, capable of producing 7,500 copies an hour, and reduces the price to 1d.
1869
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Telegraph service is established in Japan between Tokyo and Yokohama.
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Du Hauron publishes Les Couleurs en Photographie, in which he describes the subtractive approach to colour photography.
Emmanual Hermann in Vienna invents the postal telegram (postcard) to be send through the mail at a lower rate than the normal charge for letters in envelopes.
Chronomedia index
SS Great Eastern [right], the world’s largest ship, sets out from Valentia, Ireland to lay a 
Radio telegraphy is demonstrated by Dr Mahlon Loomis (1826-1886) [right] over 22km at Bear’s Den, Loudoun County, Virginia, USA.
Charles Cros (1842-1888), French poet and scientist and friend of Verlaine and Manet, discovers a practical three-colour photographic system.
John Barnes Linnet, a British printer, patents the kineograph (better known as a 'flip-book or 'flicker-book'). In German the device is called Daumenkino (thumb cinema).