[1786] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Congressional Record Appears to Speak to Narrow NREN Control
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gordon Cook)
Thu Dec 26 00:12:10 1991
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: 26 Dec 91 00:03:12 EST (Thu)
From: cook@tmn.com (Gordon Cook)
<<MESSAGE from>> Gordon Cook 26-DEC-91 0:03
cook@tmn
Needless to say I agree with the tenor and hope expressed in Dave Hughes
message that the commoners will not find themselves disbarred from the
NREN. However reading the congressional record extracts on NREN from the
senat side leaves me discouraged.
Consider the following remarks of Senator Wallop on page S17733 of the
Congressional Record (Nov 22, 1991):
"The statement in section 102(a) that the NREN is to link research and
educational institutions, government and industry 'in every state' is to
be taken as a goal, NOT A REQUIREMENT TO BE READ LITERALLY. Similarly the
requirement of Section 102(b) that 'Federal agencies shall work with State
and local agencies, libraries, educational institutions and organizations,
private network service providers, and others in order to ensure that
researchers, educators, and students have access, as appropriate, to the
Network,' is a GOAL of the legislation, NOT A REQUIREMENT. The words 'to
ensure' in this provision are NOT to be read literally as a specific
statutory requirement."
Several paragraphs later Wallop concludes: "Mr President, with these
understandings by the Senate, I support the passage of the High
Performance Computing Act of 1991, S272, as ammended by the House."
Nothing that I could find in the Record show other senators rising to
DISAGREE with Wallop's interpretation of the newly passed law.
On November 23, 1991 (pages S 17894-96) Senator Gore offers further
comments: "Anoher important addition to the bill were House provisions
authoring high performance computing efforts [note NREN not mentioned -
GC] at the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency,
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Although these
are not the largest contributors to the HPC Program, each will play an
important role. [Gore describes role at NOAA and EPA.] And the Department
of Education has begun to develope new ways to use computers and networks
in education. Although the Senate version of S. 272 did not include
provisions for the Department of Education for jurisdictional reasons, I
was glad we could incorporate such provisions in the final version. Some
of the most exciting applications of advanced computing are in Education
and the Department of Education has a key role to play." [Good on lofty
goals but short on details. When in October I talked to a key player at
the department of Education who didn't even know that the D of Ed role had
been preserved, I fely further discouragement.]
Several paragraphs later we find Senator Gore asserting "One provision [of
the law] states that the Network shall 'link existing Federal and
non-Federal computer networks, to the extent appropriate, in a way that
allows autonomy within each component network.'
This means that the various networks must use compatible communications
protocols and hardware. However the bill makes clear that if a network
provider no longer wishes to be connected to the NREN, it has the option
of disconnecting from the NREN. This subsection of the bill also makes
clear that most of the NREN will be built and run by the private sector.
Much of the traffic on the the NREN will be carried by lower speed links
which could be purchased from the private sector." (S page 17895)
On the day before (page S17734) Senator Gore stated: "The NREN is a
national demonstration project that will spur the private sector
investment needed to deploy a ubiquitous fiber-optic network..." "The NREN
will demonstrate what gigabit networks can do and generate the public
demand for such services. When the general public sees what NREN users
can do, they are going to want similar services in their home and office.
This bill is a first step toward meeting that need."
[It may be called a NATIONAL Network but Senator Gore's statement makes it
pretty clear that it is NOT there to serve the unwashed masses.]
The law contains only the following criteria on how the NSF shall spend
the several hundred million it is given for the network. On page s 17730
we read Sec 201 (a) 2 "to the extent that colleges, universities and
libraries cannot connect to the network with the assistance of the private
sector [since when has the private sector ever assisted ths?] the national
science foundation shall have the primary responsibility for assisting
colleges, universities and libraries to connect to the network; 3 the
National science Foundation shall serve as the primary source of
information on access to and use of the Network; and 4 the National
Science Foundation shall upgrade the NSF funded network, assist regional
networks to upgrade their capabilities, and provide other Federal
Departments and agencies the oportunity to connect to the NSF funded
network."
We see here at work what appears to be a process of sliding the network
back to its initial purpose of high end use only after language suggesting
a broad availability of the network had been added to make its passage
easier. No wonder Apples John Sculley on behalf of the Computer Systems
Policy Project was sounding the alarm two weeks ago that NREN as currently
conceived is too elitist and unlikely to be given continuing support by
the American taxpayer.
