ip: Networked Economy Conference -- Day 1

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

Posted-Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 19:14:04 -0400
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 18:16:45 -0500
From: shaynes () research westlaw com (Steve Haynes)
To: farber () central cis upenn edu
Subject: Networked Economy Conference -- Day 1


Dave -


As was the case last year, I'm once again attending the Networked
Economy Conference.  And again, I'm taking the liberty of
uploading to you for the IP list my notes, such as they are.  For
those who read my versions of their own (purported) quotations,
my apologies for any mangling that occurred between your delivery
and my inscribing.


I've divided the notes into a section of _bon_mots_, trying to
capture individual speakers' witticisms, and then a record of
statements of interest during their presentations.


Steve Haynes


* Stephen L. Haynes            Internet:  shaynes () research westlaw com
* Manager, WESTLAW Research    MCI Mail:  221-3969
*   & Development              Compuserve:  76236,3547
* West Publishing Company      Phone:  612/687-5770
* 610 Opperman Drive           Fax:  612/687-7907
* Eagan, MN  55123


                --------------------------------------


MEETING:        Networked Economy Conference


DATE:           Tuesday, September 12, 1995


LOCATION:       Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC


          -------------------------------------


Bon Mots:


     Reed Hundt


          "Some say that my sitting next to Al Gore in 9th
          Grade English, or next to Bill Clinton in
          Admiralty in law school are examples of being 'in
          the right place at the right time.'"


     Robert Frankenberg:


          "Finding information on the Internet is like
          putting all the volumes in the Library of Congress
          in a single room, turning off the lights, and then
          telling the user 'All the information you need is
          in that room; go ahead and find it.'"


     John Perry Barlow:


          [Barlow demonstrated once again his facility with
          glib one-liners.]


          [He was standing in at the last minute for Newt
          Gingrich]:  "To ask an unrepentant acid-head,
          lyricist for the Grateful Dead, to sub for Newt
          Gingrich, is an indication of how far we've left
          the rails."


          "Bandwidth is like money, sex and power:  the more
          you have the less it feels."


          "If anyone else comes up to me with a wink and
          says he doesn't want to be road kill on the
          information superhighway, there will be an act of
          justifiable homicide."


          "Content:  Where is the container?"


          "The concept that there is a direct relationship
          between scarcity and wealth does not work in the
          information age."


          "Everyone is likely to be freer than they want to
          be in a short period of time."


          "Cyberporn is like the Yogi Berra line:  'No one
          goes there anymore because it got too crowded.'"


          "The Senate in trying to govern cyberspace is
          analogous to King George believing he could still
          govern the colonies even though he had never been
          there."


          "Local government is the only effective government
          -- it actually provides services we need."


          "You must be able to expand your mind to include
          these possibilities [e.g., demise of the nation
          state], because if you don't they will expand to
          include you."


          "The small furry things may win out against the
          large scaly things [a reference to the analogy of
          evolution], but if you're small and furry but
          locked in a closet with a dying dinosaur, you will
          be the worse for it."


          "I'm a 'presentist':  I predict the present, which
          puts me far ahead of those who are predicting the
          past."


     Al Gore:


          "One of the things I enjoy as Vice President is
          the opportunity to vote [as President of the
          Senate].  And one of the things I like most about
          it is that every time I vote, we win."


     Jim Clark:


          "I am still amazed at the number of people who
          come up to me and ask, 'But how can you make money
          on the Internet?'"


     Thomas Dolby:


          "Jim Clark told us about Netscape, and it seemed
          like he was telling us of a hobby he cooked up to
          keep from getting bored in the post-Silicon
          Graphics days."


     Marc Canter made a joke:


          "[With hand held over mouth]
          'Mumblemumblemumblemumble':  that's real audio."
          [Dave, I tried your speech on RealAudio;
          characterizing it (RealAudio, not your speech) as
          an AM station with bad reception is giving it more
          credit than it is due.]


Remarks:


Robert Allen -- keynote:


     It's time to open up the regional bell systems markets.
     Their monopolies are as entrenched today as they ever
     were.  The proposed Telecommunications Bill does not
     solve the problem.


     The law must require real competition in the local
     exchange market.  The law must designate an impartial
     body that uses a standard to determine when the local
     market is no longer a monopoly.


     Competition has been a dazzling success in the long
     distance market:  lower prices and improved services
     and technology.


Reed Hundt -- keynote:


     Right now here in DC is the "right place and right
     time" to select policies for the telecommunications
     revolution.


     Three technologies upon which will be based the next
     successful telecommunications companies:


          Local Multipoint Distribution System -- provides
          interactive video, etc.


          NII Band -- highspeed unlicensed band for data


          Millimeter Wave Technology -- not yet
          technologically viable, but computer industry says
          can be used for intraoffice LANs and can be
          designed for.


     As to public policy:


          Axioms:


               10) The combination of communications and
               cheap PCs will affect government policies


               9) The curse of the modern age is that people
               do not feel they are in charge of their own
               lives; but networks will provide each person
               with "topsight", dealing with the
               complexities of the modern world.


               8) In this country the mass media threaten
               the viability of representational democracy
               because of the need to buy TV time.


               7) We need to admit that modern
               communications threatens jobs; we must help
               those caught in the middle.


               6) The communications revolution will
               permanently alter the powers and performance
               of governments at all levels; repudiation of
               positive government would be shortsighted
               just now.


          Reforms (for next 12 months):


               5) FCC should reform the access charge
               schemes in this country; need tight focus for
               universal service; need to treat basic cable
               as a universal service.


               4) Move spectrum auctions as paradigm for use
               of airwaves.


               3) Deregulate business paradigm of the
               airwaves; explain public interest dimension
               of the communications revolution as duties of
               industry in the sector.


               2) Internationally, need to press for
               harmonious use of foreign regulation.


               1) Communications must revolutionize
               education in America.  Need government as
               catalyst to build model schools in
               partnership with industry.  Government must
               jump-start building of the infrastructure.


          Now is right time and right place to lay
          foundation for a networked society, so all can be
          winners.


Panel:


     Hundt:  There is a misperception that spectrum auctions
     somehow add costs to provision of services over the
     spectrum.  But the government neither adds to nor takes
     away from value.  It is the market that puts a value on
     spectrum.  For example, CBS's spectrum would appear to
     be valued by the market at about $5 billion.


John Perry Barlow -- keynote:


     The speakers on the first panel narcotized me.  It was
     less because they were speaking for themselves, but
     rather institutionally.


     The Internet is not the information superhighway, and
     because of it there will not be an information
     superhighway because of all the rebellious, small,
     dynamic companies that will turn out to dominate the
     behemoths that presently think they are king of the
     hill.


     We are creating an ecosystem where brand new lifeforms
     can evolve.


     We are looking at the end of the nation state.


     "There are a number of small, island nations that are
     preparing to be what pirate communities have always
     been:  havens for pirated goods;  in their case, they
     are preparing to be data havens [cf. Bruce Sterling's
     Islands in the Net].  But the problem with small island
     communities is that they can be taken out by one
     gunboat, and rest assured that there will be gunboats
     in this before it's over."  [Over two years ago I gave
     a presentation on the mythical island of "Nullexia,"
     which was one of those island pirate data havens.  I
     ended with the remark that Nullexias might exist on any
     street in the U.S., what with the advent of Pentium-
     level PCs, with gigabyte storage, and anonymous
     remailers.  They would be very difficult to find and
     stop.]


Al Gore -- keynote:


     [It felt like a White House cyberspace rump session:
     Mike Nelson in the audience, Tom Kalil walking entering
     in advance of the V.P.; then Larry Irving -- I was
     thinking, if Ron Brown shows up, we'll know it's a
     major policy address.]


     "Emergence of Information as the Central Organizing
     Force in Our World."


     "As information becomes an abundant rather than a
     scarce resource, nations are disassembling the
     telecommunications monopolies that previously existed."


     "The proper role of government in development of the
     GII is to promote ... social well-being for all
     citizens."


     Two areas where US can demonstrate its commitments:


          One, reform of the 1934 Telecommunications Act.


          Two, spending our national resources to promote
          our values at home and abroad.


Jim Clark -- keynote:


     "Imagine a spreadsheet that when you place your cursor
     in a particular cell, it opens a connection to the
     Internet and queries your account information at all
     your banks and brokerage houses."


Panel:


     [Who is Marc Canter?  President of Canter Technology,
     but what's that?]


     [With this panel, it began to feel more like the
     Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference than a $1,300
     per head Networked Economy affair.]


     Clark:  we are able to sell advertising on the net.
     Hits keep increasing the presence of ads
     notwithstanding.  We are able to increase our rates
     because of the demonstrated increase in hits.


     Major diatribe by several panelists against lawyers and
     their restrictive activities contrary to interests of
     the technologists.  Credo:  the lawyers will never keep
     up with the technologists.


     Barlow:  encouraged audience to read the IITF
     Intellectual Property Working Group's White Paper.
     Characterized it as a major mistake and doomed to
     failure.  Encouraged a revolt against its protections
     for the entrenched content forces and media.


     [Your reporter resists the temptation to offer a few
     pithy comments in rebuttal.]


Bert Roberts -- keynote:


     Introduced (?) concept of the "virtual company":  where
     each task takes place at different venue, but all tied
     together over the network.


     Heavy emphasis on "intelligent networks" and
     partnership with British Telecom.


Panel:


     Steve Case:


          "The market today for consumer Internet access is
          smaller than most people acknowledge."


          By making the service more interesting and fun, we
          hope to reach more of the 98.5% of the US
          population that has not yet signed up with AOL.