Monday Reports:
• Technology Report: The Next Decade in Computing
• White House Report: Internet Should Be Market-Driven, Not Regulated

Tuesday Reports

Technology Report:
The Next Decade in Computing

"Information technology (IT) is going to be the engine for economic growth in the next millennium, much as automobiles and housing have been for the twentieth century," he said. He also pointed out that IT is already bigger than those two forces of the economy. As such a force, IT must sustain itself through continued research. Today's capabilities stem from research done over the past two decades. Industry, through its large-scale growth, has been able to take over many of the shot-term investments that government had formerly offered, so that now government should make more long-term investments. "Continued government support for advanced research is essential."

The research Kahn has in mind is for information infrastructure support, which is as necessary as support for the technology. As the infrastructure becomes more stable, Industry will continue to develop applications and help electronic commerce flourish. Government must then help remove barriers and obstacles to electronic business, and must help instill security, trust and reliability in the infrastructure. Industry has its own role, but continues to require government's assistance. "No effort to deploy an infrastructure will succeed without some form of government imprimatur."

In response to some fears companies have regarding government looking over their shoulder, he responded that the only way to keep government out, is to find a way to let it stay in. Government will not want to oversee the entire operations, but only "keep a toe in the water," so that it can step in should something go wrong. As an example of the "toe in water" theory, he offered the example of the Internet: "The US government has been an excellent steward for the Internet, systematically ceding control" to the private sector. Government has help resolved many residual issues and insured a stable, evolvable system with results that can work on a global scale.

He acknowledged that there have been some false starts, such as the CDA and issues on copyright, but a dialogue between government and the private sector is often difficult. One stumbling block is terminology. For many people, though the terms remain the same, the meaning behind them is different. For instance, in terms of copyright, for many people across the globe, "copy" means the physical thing that one can hold in one's hand. This is opposed to the transmission of a communication. When people in IT talk of sending a copy across the Internet, cognitive dissonance occurs.

Kahn foresees new horizons in computing over the next decade. New models will emerge, such as quantum computing, an increased power of networks, and ostensible scaling. There will be a networking explosion, spurred by optical connections, which will allow for faster transmission and wider paths. "Wireless everywhere," and everything will be connected. Sensors and actuators will be integrated into the network, as well as MEMs Devices and tiny robots, everything communicating. Also, powerful collaborative systems among people will develop.

Overall, "Information will become a first class citizen in the Net." There will be a greater sense of what it is, as well as what you can do with it. This is a tonic to those who bemoan the loss of context and meaning in Internet information. The greater status of information in the Net will come from a greater sense of accreditation. People have been worried about the integrity of their work as well as the assignation of credit. Identifier systems, which the music industry is beginning to adopt for putting material on the Net, uniquely identify brand names. Identifier systems will mark when information is altered, diffusing worries of misrepresentation.

Finally, the public will become more interested in the Internet, especially as it spreads commercially and internationally. Bob Kahn argued for universal, meaning affordable, access, with payment for services rather than for the access itself. He closed asking for patience in the complex system of making public policy. "The Web is not the last word in operability; it is instead the first word."

White House Report:
Internet Should Be Market-Driven, Not Regulated

Magaziner admitted that some early government Internet policies were "ad hoc, dumb, and misguided." The Communications Decency Act was one of these early mistakes not just because it was an apparent attempt to censor the Internet, but also because it was simply not enforceable. To prevent repeats of such mistakes, he offered four principles for creating Internet public policy: (1) the private sector must lead the effort, because government is too inflexible to deal with the dynamic nature of the Internet; (2) growth of the Internet must be market-driven and not accomplished through a regulated environment; (3) government should act minimally and transparently in its Internet-related activities, always placing proposed regulations on web sites to solicit public comments; and (4) in order to remain current, policies should not be tied to a particular technology.

Magaziner's big fear is that government interference will slow the tremendous contribution the Internet has made to the growth of the economy. Though information technology firms make up only 8% of the nation's industries, they have contributed over a third of the recent economic growth. If it were not for declining computer technology prices, the inflation rate would be at least one percentage point higher. Equally significant is the way the Internet is changing the relationships and improving the efficiency of vendor and supplier interactions. To preserve this dynamism, the White House wants to privatize the management of the Internet and transfer control from the current monopoly organization to a collection of decentralized, private non-profit organizations.

Magaziner's other fear is that without government interference the Internet will grow in ways that threaten individual privacy. These concerns gave rise to the earlier misguided policies. He emphasized the importance of protecting privacy, but stressed that, instead of government regulation, a better approach is to empower people to protect themselves. One suggestion for privacy issues is to have industry develop a code of ethics for collecting information from web sites. Only those sites that obeyed the code of ethics could display a seal stating that they enforce the code of ethics. Government cannot protect people on the Internet, Magaziner said; it can only make available the tools people need to protect themselves and control their own data. Such a self-protection tool is filtering software that can screen web sites for content.

Magaziner also addressed the need to educate society so that all members can participate in the high-tech economy. The 70% of the population that does not get to attend a four-year college is being left behind in the new information age. Education programs from earlier learning programs, such as Head Start, to basic research must continue to be funded if the technological growth is to continue and be accessible to all.

The White House and the professional computing community differ on the issue of strong encryption. Law enforcement officials are battling commercially-minded officials over whether strong encryption constraints can be relaxed. While law and order officials want government to have access to the keys of strong-encryption users to prevent terrorists from using the Internet, commercial officials point out that any such proposals are overly burdensome and expensive.

Finally, Magaziner assured the audience that the White House has no plans to level taxation against the Internet and is actively trying to get international agreement on making web sites a duty-free zone.

Throughout the speech, Magaziner emphasized that public policy makers in Washington lack knowledge about new technologies and their impact on the economy and the way research must be conducted. Because professional societies are more credible than commercial interests in educating policy makers, he urged the audience to undertake the responsibility of keeping policy makers informed of new technologies and their implications. By taking an active role in defining computing policy, computing professionals can make sure the things they really care about become implemented.