roundtable: Questions for NTIA

roundtable: Questions for NTIA

Questions for NTIA

Marc Rotenberg (rotenberg@epic.org)
19 Jul 1995 23:17:10 U 

Message-Id: <n1405926412.82062@epic.org>
Date: 19 Jul 1995 23:17:10 U
From: "Marc Rotenberg" <rotenberg@epic.org>
Subject: Questions for NTIA
To: roundtable@cni.org


Regarding the item in the NTIA Update about Larry Irving's meeting 
with EU officials about the GII, why is the NTIA only pushing the 
original five goals and not the "Eight Core Principles" that the US 
agreed to at the G7 meeting in Brussels this past February? 

To recap, the US originally proposed an NII policy based on encouraging 
private sector investment, promoting competition, providing open access
to the network for all information providers and users, creating a 
flexible regulatory environment, and ensuring universal service.  At the 
Brussels meeting, the G7 leaders endorsed eight principles.  The first 
five tracked closely the US proposal.  But the last three, not mentioned 
in the NTIA report, attempted to address social, political, and cultural 
concerns about the future of the Information Society.

The three critical principles are:

   -- promoting equality of opportunity to the citizen
                                                                              
   -- promoting diversity of content, including cultural and linguistic
      diversity 

   -- recognising the necessity of worldwide cooperation with particular
      attention to less developed countries   

Has the US changed its position since the G7 meeting? Are  these goals 
no longer considered part of the US GII policy agenda?

Also, the Vice President spoke in support of free expression at the 
Brussels meeting.  Has the NTIA expressed any concern about the efforts 
of national governments to restrict speech on the GII? There could 
hardly be a better time to emphasize the importance of free expression.

Finally, has the NTIA offered European governments any assurance that 
the US will develop enforceable privacy standards for the NII or relax 
current controls on encryption? The Europeans have taken great strides 
to protect consumers through new privacy laws and have also been 
unwilling to adopt Clipper-like proposals. Is the US prepared to take 
similar steps to protect privacy on the GII?

Tough questions, I realize, but absolutely essential if we are to 
understand the views and interests our government is representing in 
the debate over the future of the GII.

Marc Rotenberg, director
Electronic Privacy Information Center
(www.epic.org)

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