roundtable: Live from the Summit - Report # 5 - Speech by Gore

roundtable: Live from the Summit - Report # 5 - Speech by Gore

Live from the Summit - Report # 5 - Speech by Gore

Lisa Kimball (lisa@tmn.com)
Tue, 29 Mar 94 15:24:36 EST 

Date: Tue, 29 Mar 94 15:24:36 EST
From: lisa@tmn.com (Lisa Kimball)
Message-Id: <9403292024.AA07774@tmn.com>
To: roundtable@cni.org
Subject: Live from the Summit - Report # 5 - Speech by Gore


  Peter Goldmark, President of The Rockefeller Foundation,
introduced Vice President Al Gore, commenting that how we
chart our information highway will determine the future of
democracy.  Schools must be wired.  The network must be
part of local democracy.  And government must set the rules
of the road because -- it's the government's job.

  ------
Vice President Gore:  (Reminder, just to be clear, these are
this reporter's notes -- they are not direct quotes of the VP.)

  Our administration believes we must wire every school,
classroom, clinic and library in our nation -- and do this
within the next five years.  We have the technology.  But
we're missing the infrastructure.

  Every single person will benefit from the NII.

  The National Telecommunication and Information Adminstration
in the Department of Commerce recently announced the availability
of funding for some of the aspects of the NII and already they
have received 3,500 inquiries have been received.

  The two most important principals we assert are (1) universal
service, and (2) open access.  The NII must make it possible
for everyone to sendas well as receive -- like the Internet
today.  We want to pass legislation this year that will ensure
universal service and open access.

  Reforming telecommunications law is essential.

  Networked communities will teach their children better, fight
crime better, get better health care.  SeniorNet provides
such services to our senior citizens.

  We are increasing the availability of government informaton.
HUD, today, has begun to put info about fair housing and fair
lending on the net.  We can empower our representative democracy.
Massive parallelism is a model for democracy.  People closest
to the problems are the smartest about solutions.  The printing
press was the anabling technology that gave rise to our original
form of democracy.  We can only imagine what the future will be.

We will ensure that the NII is developed in the public interest.

Q:  Will demos be avail so that parents can learn about the net?
A:  It's a real problem.  Financial and geographic access is a
problem that must be solved -- but also people need knowledge
about how to use the new tools.

Q: Can old people be a technology peace corps?
A: sure; good idea ....  MIT's Athena system has online volunteer
tutors in every discipline.  People on the networks love to help
other people do what they do.

  After democracy, education will be the single most important
beneficiary of the NII.

  Thank you all for participating, and that's NOT just perfunctory.
Sustained attention to the public interest is essential.

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