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- EFFector Online Volume 6 No. 8 12/28/1993 editors@eff.org
- A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
-
-
- In This Issue:
-
- Gore Endorses EFF's Open Platform Approach
- EFF Announces Call for Nominations, 3rd Annual Pioneer Awards
- NCO High Performance Computing & Communications NII Gopher/Web Server
- Smart Valley CommerceNet Consortium Wins Superhighway Grant
- What You Can Do
-
-
- --==--==--==-<>-==--==--==--
-
-
- Subject: Gore Endorses EFF's Open Platform Approach
-
- 12/21/93
-
- Washington -- Vice President Al Gore announced at the National Press Club
- today a long-term White House telecommunications policy initiative that
- incorporates the major elements of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's
- Open Platform policy recommendations.
-
- The Vice President's speech, which credited EFF co-founder Mitchell
- Kapor for articulating the need for an "open platform" information
- infrastructure, outlined five policy principles for the National
- Information Infrastructure (NII).
-
- Kapor said that he is "honored" by the reference in Gore's speech.
- "I'm awfully happy that the Open Platform is right in the middle of the
- Administration's infrastructure strategy, and that they see Open
- Platform and open access as just as important as competition.
-
- "President Clinton and Vice President Gore deserve great credit for being
- the first Administration in over a decade to offer a comprehensive approach
- to telecommunications policy," Kapor said. "I am looking forward to
- working with the White House and the Congress to help see this thing
- through."
-
- EFF executive director Jerry Berman said Tuesday his organization is
- "extremely pleased that the Administration has affirmed that neither all-
- out competition, nor stifling regulation, will bring the promise of
- information access to all Americans." In the three years since EFF's
- founding, Berman said, the organization has labored to raise these issues
- in the public-policy arena and to promote the Open Platform approach.
-
- EFF's Open Platform policy to support universal access to the digital
- information infrastructure is included in the telecommunications bill
- recently introduced by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Jack Fields (R-TX), and
- Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA).
-
- The first principle, Gore said, is to "encourage private investment." The
- Vice President said this principle involves "steering a course between a
- kind of computer-age Scylla and Charybdis -- between the shoals of
- suffocating regulation on one side, and the rocks of unfettered monopolies
- on the other.
-
- "Both stifle competition and innovation," Gore said.
-
- The second principle, he said is to "promote and protect competition." The
- vice President said the government "should prevent unfair cross-subsidies
- and act to avoid information bottlenecks that would limit consumer choice,
- or limit the ability of new informaiotn providers to reach their
- customers."
-
- The third principle, Gore said, is to "provide open access to the network."
- Gore defined this principle in terms very similar to those of EFF's own
- policy statements on Open Platform services.
-
- "Suppose I want to set up a service that provides 24 hours a day of David
- Letterman reruns," he said. "I don't own my own netowrk, so I need to buy
- access to someone else's. I should be able to do so by paying the same
- rates as my neighbor, who wants to broadcast kick-boxing matches."
-
- EFF's Open Platform Proposal, released in November of this year, all
- recognizes the importance of access to a diversity of information sources.
-
- The proposal states: "If new network services are deployed with adequate
- up-stream capacity, and allow peer-to-peer communication, then each user
- of the network can be both an information consumer and publisher. Network
- architecture which is truly peer-to-peer can help produce in digital media
- the kind of information diversity that only exists today only in the print
- media."
-
- Said Gore: "Without provisions for open access, the companies that own the
- networks could use their control of the networks to ensure that their
- customers only have access to their programming. We've already seen cases
- where cable company owners have used their monopoly control of their
- networks to exclude programming that competes with their own."
-
- Gore also cited with approval EFF co-founder Mitchell Kapor's analogy of
- an "open platform" infrastructure to the open architecture of the IBM PC.
- "We need to ensure the NII, just like the PC is open and accessible to
- everyone with a good idea who has a product they want to sell," he said.
-
- The fourth principle, said the Vice President, is "to avoid creating a
- society of information 'haves' and 'have nots.'" Gore said the United
- States will "still need a regulatory safety net to make sure almost
- everyone can benefit."
-
- The fifth and final principle, he said, is that "we want to encourage
- flexibility." Gore said the legislative package to be offered by the White
- House must have the kind of flexibility that the Communications Act of
- 1934 had, in order to deal with technological changes that no one can yet
- anticipate.
-
- Berman said Gore's speech also helps define how the Administration plans to
- handle the transition, following the breakup of the Bell System, between a
- world of telecommunications monopolies and a world in which there is
- meaningful competition among content and communications providers. "This
- speech shows that part of the White House's definition of 'managed
- transition' is that all citizens will have access to digital-network open
- platform."
-
- ---------
-
- Contacts:
-
- Jerry Berman, Executive Director, Internet: <jberman@eff.org>
- Daniel J. Weitzner, Senior Staff Counsel, Internet: <djw@eff.org>
-
- v: 202-347-5400
- f: 202-393-5509
-
-
- --==--==--==-<>-==--==--==--
-
-
- Subject: EFF Announces Call for Nominations, 3rd Annual Pioneer Awards
-
- THE THIRD ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL EFF PIONEER AWARDS:
- CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
- Deadline: January 20, 1994
-
- In every field of human endeavor, there are those dedicated to expanding
- knowledge, freedom, efficiency and utility. Along the electronic frontier,
- this is especially true. To recognize this, the Electronic Frontier
- Foundation has established the Pioneer Awards for deserving individuals
- and organizations.
-
- The Pioneer Awards are international and nominations are open to all.
-
- In March of 1992, the first EFF Pioneer Awards were given in Washington
- D.C. The winners were: Douglas C. Engelbart, Robert Kahn, Jim Warren, Tom
- Jennings, and Andrzej Smereczynski. The second Pioneer Awards, which were
- given in San Francisco at the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference
- in 1993, were awarded to Paul Baran, Vinton Cerf, Ward Christensen, Dave
- Hughes and the USENET software developers, represented by the
- software's originators Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis.
-
- The Third Annual Pioneer Awards will be given in Chicago, Illinois
- at the 4th Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy
- in March of 1994.
-
- All valid nominations will be reviewed by a panel of impartial judges
- chosen for their knowledge of computer-based communications and the
- technical, legal, and social issues involved in networking.
-
- There are no specific categories for the Pioneer Awards, but the
- following guidelines apply:
-
- 1) The nominees must have made a substantial contribution to the
- health, growth, accessibility, or freedom of computer-based
- communications.
-
- 2) The contribution may be technical, social, economic or cultural.
-
- 3) Nominations may be of individuals, systems, or organizations in
- the private or public sectors.
-
- 4) Nominations are open to all, and you may nominate more than one
- recipient. You may nominate yourself or your organization.
-
- 5) All nominations, to be valid, must contain your reasons, however
- brief, on why you are nominating the individual or organization,
- along with a means of contacting the nominee, and your own contact
- number. No anonymous nominations will be allowed.
-
- 6) Every person or organization, with the single exception of EFF
- staff members, are eligible for Pioneer Awards.
-
- 7) Persons or representatives of organizations receiving a Pioneer
- Award will be invited to attend the ceremony at the Foundation's
- expense.
-
- You may nominate as many as you wish, but please use one form per
- nomination. You may return the forms to us via email, postal mail, or fax at
- the appropriate address or number listed on the form below
-
- Just tell us the name of the nominee, the phone number or email address
- at which the nominee can be reached, and, most important, why you feel
- the nominee deserves the award. You may attach supporting
- documentation. Please include your own name, address, and phone number.
-
- We're looking for the Pioneers of the Electronic Frontier that have made
- and are making a difference. Thanks for helping us find them,
-
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation
-
- -------EFF Pioneer Awards Nomination Form------
-
- Please return to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
-
- via email to: pioneer@eff.org
-
- via surface mail to:
- EFF, Attn: Pioneer Awards
- 1001 G St. NW
- Suite 950 East
- Washington, DC 20001
-
- via FAX to +1 202 393 5509
-
-
- Nominee:
-
- Title:
-
- Company/Organization:
-
- Contact number or email address:
-
- Reason for nomination:
-
- Your name and contact information:
-
- Extra documentation attached:
-
- DEADLINE: ALL NOMINATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER
- FOUNDATION BY MIDNIGHT, EASTERN STANDARD TIME U.S., JANUARY 20, 1994.
-
-
- --==--==--==-<>-==--==--==--
-
-
- Subject: NCO High Performance Computing & Communications NII Gopher/Web Server
-
- The National Coordination Office for High Performance Computing and
- Communications (HPCC) is pleased to announce World Wide Web and Gopher
- servers. These servers contain a variety of HPCC-related information
- including the FY 1994 "Blue Book" entitled: "High Performance Computing and
- Communications: Toward a National Information Infrastructure".
- HPCC-related reports, information about grants and research contracts, and
- legislative material are also included. Links have been made to additional
- HPCC-related information sources including servers at other government
- agencies with HPCC activities.
-
- The URL's to the Web and Gopher servers are:
-
- http://www.hpcc.gov
- gopher://gopher.hpcc.gov
-
-
- For Gopher clients, the link to the Gopher server is as follows:
-
- Name=National Coordination Office for HPCC (NCO/HPCC) Gopher
- Type=1
- Port=70
- Path=
- Host=gopher.hpcc.gov
-
- Please direct questions/comments to wwwadmin@hpcc.gov or gopheradmin@hpcc.gov
-
-
- --==--==--==-<>-==--==--==--
-
-
- Subject: Smart Valley CommerceNet Consortium Wins Superhighway Grant
-
- MENLO PARK, Calif., November 24, 1993 -- Smart Valley, Inc.
- (SVI) and Enterprise Integration Technologies (EIT) today announced
- their receipt of a Federal Government grant for CommerceNet, an $8
- million project designed to help Silicon Valley businesses make
- commercial use of the coming "Information Superhighway."
- Half of the funds for CommerceNet will be provided by the
- Federal grant made under the government's "Technology Reinvestment
- Program" (TRP) which is sponsored by the Defense Department's Advanced
- Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the National Institute of Standards
- and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other
- government agencies. Matching funds will be provided by the State of
- California and participating companies.
- CommerceNet's goal is to make public computer networks, such as
- the Internet, "industrial strength" for business use. CommerceNet will
- address issues including low-cost, high-speed Internet access using
- newly deployed technology such as Integrated Services Digital Network
- (ISDN) services and multimedia software. CommerceNet will support a
- range of commercial network applications such as on-line catalogs,
- product data exchange and engineering collaboration. It will also
- offer outreach services such as technical assistance to small- and
- medium-size businesses that want to access public networks.
- The CommerceNet consortium is sponsored by Smart Valley, Inc.
- and the State of California's Trade and Commerce Agency. Enterprise
- Integration Technologies, a local high-tech company specializing in
- electronic commerce, will lead the effort. Joining forces on the
- project are two organizations associated with Stanford University:
- WestREN, the operator of the Bay Area Regional Research Network
- (BARRNet), and Stanford's new Center for Information Technology (CIT).
- There are more than 20 industrial participants including Apple
- Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed, National Semiconductor, Pacific
- Bell, and Sun Microsystems.
- "The funding of CommerceNet is the first major success for
- Smart Valley," said Dr. Harry Saal, president of Smart Valley.
- "Putting our business community on-line will be a great competitive
- edge for our region and the national economy."
- "CommerceNet will enable local companies to take advantage of a
- revolutionary new medium. Awareness of the Internet's potential is
- growing among the business community, but there are still many
- obstacles to its use -- we're going to work with local users and with
- network and information providers to eliminate the barriers," said
- Allan Schiffman, EIT's chief technical officer.
- Smart Valley, Inc. is a nonprofit organization chartered to
- create a regional electronic community by developing an advanced
- information infrastructure and the collective ability to use it. Smart
- Valley's mission is to facilitate the construction of a pervasive,
- high-speed communications system and information services that will
- benefit all sectors of the community: education, healthcare, local
- government, business and the home. Smart Valley, Inc. is affiliated
- with Joint Venture: Silicon Valley, a broad based grass roots
- coalition of initiatives begun in 1992.
- Enterprise Integration Technologies (EIT) is a three-year old,
- Palo Alto-based R&D and consulting company specializing in information
- technology for electronic commerce, collaborative engineering and agile
- manufacturing. EIT is a recognized leader in software and services
- that promote commercial use of the Internet. EIT's clients include
- government agencies, aerospace and electronics companies and publishing
- firms.
-
- Contacts:
- Allan Schiffman
- Enterprise Integration Technologies
- Phone: (415) 617-8000
- Fax: (415) 617-1516
- Internet: ams@eit.com
-
- Geoff Kerr
- Cunningham Communication, Inc.
- Phone: (408) 764-0746
- Fax: (408) 982-0403
- MCI Mail: 621-8412
-
-
- --==--==--==-<>-==--==--==--
-
-
- Subject: What You Can Do
-
- "Society has recognized over time that certain kinds of scientific inquiry
- can endanger society as a whole and has applied either directly, or through
- scientific/ethical constraints, restrictions on the kind and amount of
- research that can be done in those areas."
-
- -- Adm. Bobby R. Inman (then CIA Dep. Dir.) in a February, 1982 article for
- _Aviation_Week_and_Space_Technology_ on why cryptographic research should
- be limited to government scientists. Full text of this article is
- available for anonymous ftp from ftp.eff.org as
- pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/inman.article.
-
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes that individuals have the right
- to protect their private communications by any method they choose - without
- government interference.
-
- The Administration is currently making decisions that will affect your
- ability to communicate in the future? Who's protecting your interests?
-
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is working with legislators to
- make sure that principles guaranteeing free speech, privacy and affordable
- service to consumers are written into new communications legislation. Rep.
- Edward Markey (D-MA) has already incorporated much of EFF's Open Platform
- vision into his NII proposal (H.R. 3626). But the fight is not yet won.
- The only way to make sure that future networks will serve *you* is to
- become involved. Join EFF and receive regular updates on what's happening
- and action alerts when immediate action becomes critical.
-
- Blind trust in the system won't help you. Take control of your future.
- EFF is a respected voice for the rights of users of online technologies.
- We feel that the best way to protect your online rights is to be fully
- informed and to make your opinions heard. EFF members are informed, and
- are making a difference. Join EFF today!
-
- -------- 8< ------- cut here ------- 8< --------
-
- This form came from from EFFector Online
-
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- ================================================
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-
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