Ira Magaziner: FREE Internet

Thu Dec 5 21:37:05 PST 1996

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    Just posted an hour ago on CNN

    I don't believe it! Ira Magaziner's interagency task for recommended
    that the Internet be a free zone, duty free, and to try and persuade
    all countries not to limit speech, encryption, etc.  two days in a 
    row: first the SPA changed course and really balked, and now this 
    from an ultra-liberal!  maybe there is such a thing as a spark of
    freedom in the gathering darkness!

<a href="http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9612/05/clinton.internet.reut/index.html"> 
Ira Magaziner Task force recommends Free Zone Internet </a>

    ===CNN post follows===

<html><head><title> Magaziner recommends Free Internet </a></title></head>
<body>
<H1>Clinton advisers urge free market approach for Internet</H1>
December 5, 1996 
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (Reuter) -- The Internet could provide a huge
boost to the U.S. economy if the federal government pursues
"free market" policies in cyberspace, a group of President
Clinton's top advisers said in a draft report obtained by
Reuters.

The group, an interagency task force headed by senior
presidential adviser Ira Magaziner, recommended the
administration work globally to protect the Internet from new
taxes, censorship and other onerous forms of regulation.<P>

After seven months of deliberations, the task force is
preparing to issue for public comment a report of principles and
policies the Unites States should pursue, Magaziner said in an
interview.

"One of the things we're trying to do with this paper is as
much say what government should not do as say what they should
do," Magaziner said."A lot of what industry is concerned
about is that governments are already beginning to take actions
around the world that would inhibit commerce."<P>

The growth of Internet commerce could help boost U.S.
exports of everything from movies and news to software and
consulting services. Exports of such products totaled $40
billion in 1995, the draft report noted.

The idea is to hitch U.S. exports to the speeding Internet
commerce train. Sales of goods and services online are projected
to grow to $7 billion in the year 2000, from about $1 billion
this year, according to market researchers at Jupiter
Communications.

"Companies have told us there would be a tremendous
potential to increase world trade across the Internet if we
could provide the right kind of environment," Magaziner said.<P>

The draft report, called "A Framework for Global Electronic
Commerce," covers nine issues, from taxation and customs to
privacy and security.

On taxation, the draft report echoes a report issued by the
Treasury Department last month by stating no new taxes should be
imposed. Acting through the World Trade Organization,the United
States should push for the Internet to be designated a duty-free
zone, the draft said.

Some consumers worry their privacy will be violated
when they shop online. he report said governments should push
vendors to disclose what will be done with information about
consumers rather than dictate to merchants what they can or
cannot do with the data.

On some issues, such as encryption -- encoding information
in a scrambled format to provide a measure of security or
privacy -- existing administration policies may be seen as
conflicting with the free market approach of the draft report.

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