news: Global Network Eyed By U.S.

[David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration is proposing a worldwide
>network that one day would let people exchange all kinds of information
>with the same ease as placing an international phone call.
>   "In a world that thrives on information, our future success requires us
>to develop global information networks that allow us to communicate easily
>to any of our global neighbors," said Vice President Al Gore, in a
>statement accompanying a report being issued Wednesday.
>   The report urges that other countries open their telecommunications
>markets to competition and replace rigid telecommunications laws and
>regulations with flexible ones.
>   It is being sent to the world's most industrialized countries, which are
>meeting next week in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss for the first time
>telecommunications policies and issues, including safeguarding privacy and
>ensuring network security.
>   While the report amplifies the United States' views on these matters, it
>won't be something the Group of Seven nations will vote on at the
>telecommunications meeting, said the Commerce Department, which is
>coordinating the meeting.
>   In addition to the United States, the meeting will be attended by Japan,
>Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.
>   The 49-page report builds upon a policy framework Gore laid out to
>international telecommunications policy-makers last year as part of an
>effort to sell other countries on the administration's recipe for creating
>a global information superhighway.
>   That recipe has five ingredients:
>   --Global networks should be built using private investment.
>   --There should be competition among network providers and users.
>   --The networks should be accessible to all companies wanting to use them.
>   --Flexible regulations should govern the networks.
>   --Regulatory policies should ensure that people can get access to the
>networks even if they can't afford them.
>   Among Wednesday's report's recommendations are for the United States and
>other countries to:
>   --Work with major international lending institutions such as the World
>Bank and regional development banks to determine the best means of
>attracting private and public capital.
>   --Implement specific regulations to foster a competitive environment,
>including requiring telecommunications companies to let competitors hook
>into their networks and provide nondiscriminatory access to their networks.
>
>   --Set technical standards permitting individual countries' advanced
>networks to connect just like today's phone networks.
>   "Through the interconnection of disparate but interoperable networks,
>these information highways will allow us to communicate as a global
>community -- giving individuals, businesses and economies greater access to
>each other and to a wider range of information," the report said.
>
>
>
>