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Life In Cyberspace
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 10:15:53 -0500
By the way , if you look at the end you will see the "Information Infrastructure Task Force has opened a computer bulletin board for the public. Anyone with a computer and a modem can access it by calling (202) 501-1920.". Why in the H_LL is that not reachable via the Internet. Could it be that those in charge of the IITF dont understand where the world is? Dave PPUBLICATION DATE Tuesday. February 15, 1994 HEADLINE Life In Cyberspace COMPUTERS IN THE ^90s The Toll-Free Superhighway? BYLINE Joshua Quittner LENGTH 82 Lines WASHINGTON A RED-HAIRED MAN hustled up the steps to the Old Executive Office Building in Washington right to the front of the line of 400 or so people who stood stamping against the cold. His approach sent a murmur of recognition through the crowd on Thursday. It was John Sculley, ex-chairman of Apple and now ex- chief of Spectrum Information Technologies, and he was carrying the world's biggest briefcase and wearing a wool hat, pulled down to his bushy-red eyebrows. The hat had a small hole frayed in it, dead center, and it made you think about how unemployment was treating John Sculley. After a while, the line moved and slowly, the people on it were allowed in to watch the first meeting of the National Information Infrastructure Task Force. The Indian Treaty Room had been reserved,which may have been someone's idea of irony. Many of the natives of cyberspace already suspect they're going to be displaced by the armies of Hollywood and Home Shopping. The room was quickly abandoned in favor of something larger, across the hall. A long table stretched across the front of the room and 31 people (the task force) sat around it, half of them with their backs to us. John Sculley sat facing the room. There was a blue velvet curtain and an American flag for a backdrop. One of the first orders of business, was defining what, exactly, the National Information Infrastructure is. "It's such a big, amorphous idea, it means so much to each of us," said co-chairman Delano Lewis, who also happens to be the president of National Public Radio. As an exercise, Lewis gave each of the members some homework: Write two pages on the National Information Infrastructure, "defining it - what it means." The National Information Infrastructure is not yet a household phrase, though I'm pretty sure it refers to the interconnected networks of fiber-optic and coaxial cable, phone lines, satellites and broadcast towers that move the nation's communications. No one agrees on what the proper metaphor is. During the three-hour-long meeting, it was described as a national information superhighway; a national information supermarket; a "river of information and we're placing the buoys"; and a "fast train leaving the station and we don't want to be the caboose." But the country doesn't need a common metaphor to start talking about some of the problems it faces as this thing takes on a recognizable form. One of the big issues is universal service: How does the nation ensure that all people can get at information as it migrates to pay services? This is where John Sculley comes in. "We need to find a way that every American can go to a library and access online information without having to pay for it," he said. And without easy, affordable access, he said, classrooms would be crippled. It's funny what unemployment will do for your point of view. Now, Sculley's suggestion is not exactly outrageous. You go to a library and you can read any book in the place for free. You can even take books out if you have a card. So you'd expect the same idea would carry over into the Information Age, when so much of the information we need will be available only online, for money. But Vance Opperman, president of West Publishing, almost jumped out of his seat when Sculley said the words, "without having to pay for it." West is one of the world's biggest online publishers. "If you have information available for free, soon you'll get what you pay for," Opperman said. "John, I'm amazed. I don't think you're suggesting that all information should be available for free . . . That would be the end of the information industry in this country." Now Sculley did a funny thing. Maybe it was all those years of running Pepsi and Apple that kicked in, or maybe it was the shakiness of being without portfolio. He backed down. "I'm not suggesting we create more entitlement," he said, flustered. Luckily, by this point, Vice President Al Gore had joined the group. Gore, as I'm sure you're aware, is the person in the federal government most responsible for putting the National Information Infrastructure in the public agenda. He was the one that introduced the term "national information superhighway" into the vernacular. Gore held up his hand. "I'm not prepared to yield that point," he said to Sculley, "that we should be providing information for free to classrooms. I wouldn't want to prematurely take that off the burner, not at all." Some of the panelists said later that it was good to have a vice president who can not only spell potato, but can even find a digitized photograph of one on the Internet. ***** NET TIPS The Information Infrastructure Task Force has opened a computer bulletin board for the public. Anyone with a computer and a modem can access it by calling (202) 501-1920. You can browse through documents, news releases and selected legislation. You can also leave comments for the task force. To send information to the task force over the Internet, use this e-mail address: cfranz () ntia doc gov. **END OF STORY REACHED**
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- Life In Cyberspace David Farber (Feb 16)