Life In Cyberspace

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

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**