CPSR NII Paper FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Todd Newman (CA) 415-390-1614 Eric Roberts (CA) 415-723-3642 Coralee Whitcomb (MA) 617-356-4309 Marc Rotenberg (D.C.) 202-544-9240 COMPUTER SCIENTISTS RAISE SOCIAL AND DESIGN CONCERNS ABOUT THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY Palo Alto, Calif., October 25, 1993 -- In the wake of sudden corporate mergers and rapid technological developments, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) today voiced concern that the planned information superhighway will not realize its full potential. The public interest organization put forward specific guidelines for the National Information Infrastructure (NII) in a paper titled, "Serving the Community: A Public-Interest Vision of the National Information Infrastructure." Urging the Clinton Administration to move quickly to adopt these principles, CPSR President Eric Roberts said, "Although there is widespread agreement on general goals, there is no specific plan to ensure that these goals are met." "It is much easier to state a vision than to achieve it, " said Dr. Roberts, who is also Associate Chair of the Computer Science department at Stanford University. "And there are many dangers on the horizon that threaten to compromise the value of the NII as a resource for the public. "For example, if a small number of companies dominate the market, we're in danger of stifling competition and innovation on the network. If those same companies control the programming, then open and diverse speech is limited. If pricing structures do not cover universal service, the average person and the poor will be struggling to use the backroads of the information highway. If privacy isn't protected, your TV could keep more detailed records of your finances than the IRS. And, if the NII is not designed to allow everyone to communicate freely and to publish their own contributions, it could become nothing more than a medium for delivering 500-channel television, with interactivity limited to home-shopping and trying to guess the next play during sporting events." CPSR's paper expands on these dangers and makes specific policy and technical recommendations for the newly formed Information Infrastructure Task Force. The Task Force is expected to coordinate network policy for the Clinton Administration. "In its 'Agenda for Action' document, the Administration has set forth a positive vision of what the NII can be," said Dr. Roberts. "To achieve that vision, however, the government must play a major role in the design, development, and regulation of the network." CPSR recommends that the Administration adopt the following policies: o Promote widespread economic benefits by evaluating the NII's economic success using measures that reflect its impact on the society as a whole, not merely the profits of NII investors and service providers. o Evaluate the social impact of the NII by conducting periodic reviews as the NII is implemented and used to guarantee that it continues to serve the public interest. o Guarantee equitable and universal access through an appropriate mix of legislation, regulation, taxation, and direct subsidies. o Promote the development of a vital civic sector by ensuring resources, training, and support for public spaces within the NII where citizens can pursue noncommercial activities. o Promote a diverse and competitive marketplace in terms of the content carried over the NII. o Provide access to government services and information over the NII. o Encourage democratic participation by ensuring full public disclosure, and actively promoting democratic decision-making and public participation in all stages of the development process. o Actively facilitate the seamless connection of America's NII with the information infrastructures of other nations by working to resolve such issues as security, censorship, tariffs, and privacy. o Guarantee the functional integrity of the NII by establishing critical technical requirements including ease of use, widespread availability, full functionality, high reliability, adequate privacy protection, and evolutionary expansion. The recommendations follow from a yearlong review of the NII conducted by CPSR. The process included collecting more than 1,200 suggestions for NII policy from network users across the country, drafting a report, holding special chapter meetings on the NII in Berkeley, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., and having a multiple-draft review process by the membership. Final changes to the report were made at the annual meeting of CPSR, where the report was adopted unanimously by the CPSR Board of Directors. Dr. Roberts noted that he was very pleased by the level of participation in the NII report. "The computer community knows that the NII is the critical technological issue facing the United States today. Our members were extremely responsive when we asked them to participate in this project, because they understand from their own experience how much the NII has to offer." CPSR also worked closely with the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable (TPR), a coalition of more than sixty nonprofit, consumer, labor and civil rights organizations based in Washington, DC. CPSR's paper endorses the principles set forth by TPR. TPR will unveil its founding principles in a press conference, Tuesday, October 26th at 10:00 a.m. at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. CPSR is planning a conference next April in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the future of the NII, The Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing. The conference will investigate at a more specific level how to achieve the principles in the CPSR report. Founded in 1981, CPSR is a national, nonprofit, public interest organization of computer professionals and others concerned with the impact of computer technology on society. With offices in Palo Alto, California, and Washington D.C., and 22 chapters across the country, CPSR works to encourage public discussion of decisions involving the use of computers in systems critical to society and to challenge the assumption that technology alone can solve political and social problems. CPSR's NII paper is available electronically by sending email to listserv@cpsr.org. In the message write the command "GET CPSR NII_POLICY" The paper will automatically be mailed to you. You can also FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org/nii/cpsr_nii_policy.txt. For a hard copy of the paper or for more information about CPSR, call 415-322-3778 or write to cpsr@cpsr.org. For information about the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable, contact Jeff Chester at 202-628-2620 or cme@access.digex.net. - END -