[12851] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Read My Lips - Here Comes the Info-Tax
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark Stahlman (via RadioMail))
Tue May 31 22:10:08 1994
Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 13:29:34 PDT
From: Mark Stahlman (via RadioMail) <stahlman@radiomail.net>
Cc: frezza@radiomail.net, ggilder@mcimail.com, jbreyer@accel.com,
opfer@radiomail.net, sac@apple.com
To: com-priv@psi.com
[The issue isn't EFF. The issue is the group of politicians and
bureaucrats who are being helped by the EFF to impose a digital industrial
policy on the US. If this industrial policy and it's revenue base, the
Info-Tax, is likely to cost Clinton votes in '96 (particularly in
California) then it will be shelved. Forget EFF. Who will step up to
organize a credible public outcry against the Info-Tax?
The following essay appeared in slightly edited form in the May 30th issue
of Computer Reseller News in my regular column on page 194. CRN's 250,000+
copies are read primarily by computer resellers and PC professionals.]
Read My Lips: Here Comes the Info-Tax
At the recent Sunnyvale CA public hearing on the National Information
Infrastructure (the NII or the official name for this administration's
Information Super-Hypeway), David Barram was reported to have asked the
200+ assembled citizens the $64 billion question: how is government
supposed to pay for it's "enlightened" information access policy? Mr.
Barram knows the political significance of that answer. As the ex-head of
Apple's public affairs office had a major hand in organizing Silicon Valley
support for Clinton/Gore and he currently plays an important role in
managing the team's drive to win California in the 1996 election.
The session was billed as "Innovation and the Public Interest: Open Access
to the Information Society" and Barram, who currently sports the title of
Deputy Secretary of Commerce, clearly had his finger on the pulse of the
event. According to reports, he reminded the crowd that moving to 21st
century surely meant bringing our entire population along with us and that
this commitment would not be free. He reported ly asked if the general
fund (income tax, etc.) or a more specific tax was the best way to fund
open access.
Proposals ranging from public broadcast taxes (ala Britain where you must
pay $120 annually to own a TV set) to taxing cable fees to internal
telephone cross-subsidies (how telco Lifeline service is supported today)
were all put on the table. Reports of the event don't indicate that any of
the innovators present suggested dumping tea in the San Jose river,
however.
Also present were two commissioners from the California PUC (the Public
Utility Commission regulates communications service providers in the
state), the administrator of the NTIA (who co-sponsored the event along
with the PUC) and one FCC commissioner.
Do these authorities consider the population of California to have spoken?
Do they regard the group's apparent lamb-like attitude regarding impending
slaugther to reflect the will of the California electorate? Is the message
being taken back to Washington that the Info-Havenot-Bureaucrats can tax
themselves into entitlement heaven? Unfortunately, reports about the event
didn't address these questions.
Can there be any doubts about what's going on here? The Clinton
administration has embarked on a plan to implement a digital industrial
policy for the US. This industrial policy will start in telecommunications
markets and spread outward to cryptography and other core technologies.
Countries such as France, Japan and Singapore already have such policies in
place.
The origin of these plans is centered in the office of the current Vice
President and has it's roots in then Senator Al Gore's speeches about the
NII over many years. The publicity campaign for the NII, the
Information-Superhighway, Digital Convergence and Universal Access are
setting the stage. Hearings like the Sunnyvale event and others across the
country are part of an effort to organize a constituency, build a catalog
of "innovations" and to test the waters for opposition.
Is the NII a done deal? Hardly. It's still in it's early formative
stages. Will it be pursued aggressively if it presents a political
liability? Don't bet on it. It's not too late to make your views known.
Write your favorite digital politician -- or better yet, E-mail the
Info-age solon today.
Mark Stahlman
New Media Associates
New York City
stahlman@radiomail.net
