… in 1992, rioting that claimed 54 lives and caused $1 billion in damage erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. You could say it was the beginning of user-generated content, though the video in question wasn’t circulated on the Net. (The Web was just over a year old at that point.)