IP: Netly News on Post Office and Commerce Dept report

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 08:53:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>


[I based this writeup of the Commerce Dept report just on the text of
it, which I got yesterday. At today's unveiling, though, Daley talked
quite a bit about crypto and privacy. --Declan]


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The Netly News
April 15, 1998


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       Now listen, kids -- don't for a minute think that U.S. Postmaster
   General Marvin Runyon isn't hip to that whole Internet thing. Runyon,
   speaking to reporters at the National Press Club yesterday, responded
   to a question about the threat e-mail poses to his organization: "I
   think that we play a large role in that. There are many, many areas
   that we are going to be working on to make that happen." (Note to
   Runyon: E-mail is happening already. No, really.)


       Runyon also called for new laws to let the Post Office offer "the
   full array of our services" on computer "desktops." David Boaz
   of the Cato Institute offers another perspective. "When the Postal
   Service gives up the federal laws that grant it a monopoly, then it
   should be allowed to enter and compete in every field," he says. "But
   of course the Post Office is never going to give up its monopoly -- it
   knows it can't compete with the private sector."


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       Are Clinton administration Net-heads cribbing from Wired? A
   Commerce Department report released this morning predicts that
   electronic commerce will spur the economy to new heights. It even
   cites Wired's "Long Boom" cover story on the very first page.


       The mammoth report, called "The Emerging Digital Economy," yields
   a fascinating but exhausting (the appendices alone are two inches
   thick) description of what e-commerce is, what it does and where it's
   going. Some tidbits: Internet transactions cost the bank one
   one-hundredth as much as branch banking with tellers. Five million
   people already are trading stocks online. But the report studiously
   avoids the thornier issues: privacy, free speech and encryption.
   "While government actions will not stop the growth of electronic
   commerce, if they are too intrusive, progress can be substantially
   impeded," it hedges. We certainly can understand why the Commerce
   Department wants to steer away from the controversial subject of
   crypto, but it's hard to imagine how e-commerce and digital cash can
   flourish without it.


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