[1381] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Clarifying the status of the HPCA
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joe Abernathy)
Thu Sep 19 22:16:12 1991
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 91 17:09:18 CDT
From: edtjda@magic322.chron.com (Joe Abernathy)
To: com-priv@psi.com
Cc: edtjda@chron.com
I think it's clear from talking with a number of you that there's
real cause for concern that the needs of the K-12 community might
be overlooked in this National Research and Education Network.
They've been left out before.
But I'm afraid that in reading my report of yesterday from the
perspective of this community, Dave Hughes might have read into
it more than I intended to convey.
To clarify, the High Performance Computing Act is in conference
committee, where differences between the versions passed by
the House and Senate are being resolved. Two of the main
differences are the role of the Department of Education (whether
it is to have a role), and a "buy American" clause added to
the House plan.
This is not to say that Sen. Gore is opposed to the Department
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of Education <having> a role, only that the current Senate bill
does not include such a provision. As someone noted, much of the
expectation of a K-12 role may stem from Gore's repeatedly bringing
up the wonderful new K-12 learning opportunities such a network
could foster.
As of today, the conference committee had not even approached
any of the House or Senate members for help in resolving differences.
If this is even necessary, it will be to resolve the buy American
clause, which is much more critical to the bill's future health
and well-being.
Dispute also lingers over the management roles of the National
Science Foundation and Department of Energy. As most of you know,
the DOE would build a network designed to meet the very high bandwidth
requirements of physicists, while the NSF would at least seem more
likely to build something that the average person might be able to
get an account on.
That said, you all are making quite a splash in Washington. The
phones at Sen. Gore's office and the pertinent subcommittees have
been tied up all day fielding your calls. And the office of Gore
is politely telling all callers that they're all in favor of
seeing to the needs of the K-12 community.
The conference committee is expected to finish its work within
three or four days, at which time the full Senate and House will
vote on the corrected legislation, which then will proceed to
the White House.
One thing more. I've worked with Congressional staff member Mike
Nelson for some two years now, and I've always found him to be
a consummate professional, polite and knowledgeable.
Since Dave's message got much wider distribution than that offered
by com-priv, I would appreciate it if y'all would repost this
clarification to any online services that carried his message.
Thanks!
Joe Abernathy edtjda@chron.com
Special Projects P.O. Box 4260
The Houston Chronicle Houston, Texas 77210
(800) 735-3820 (713) 526-9711
