Pre-draft for comment 2 December 1994

Vision of a Networked Nation - in the Public Interest

ACS position paper

Abstract: This position paper discusses the elements of a 'national information infrastructure' (NII). It argues that the NII should be based on the Internet model, rather than existing telephone or broadcasting services. Public policy measures for social equity, multi-media literacy and network civil rights, are identified.

1. Introduction

This paper outlines the structure of an information infrastructure for Australia. The paper commences with an outline of Internet services. It then identifies and discusses social and economic considerations relating to access to such services, and presents a set of policy proposals.

2. The Information Infrastructure Movement

The Information Infrastructure (II) movement has been primarily driven in the United States, but Australia and other nations are considering related initiatives.  In the United States, the main driving forces are the progressive inter-weaving of: local public switched telephone network (PSTN) companies, long-distance telephone network operators, cable TV operating companies;  and the Internet.

The capacity of the fibre-optic cable is sufficient for telecommunications companies (telcos) to compete with cable TV companies. Cable TV companies may soon be able to provide telco services. Satellite and terrestrial broadcast and narrowcast now compete with cable services. The Internet can provide (near-gratis) services comparable to the telcos and broadcasters.

Telcos are heavily regulated , cable TV companies less so and the Internet not at all. The telecommunications and entertainment companies are lobbying for reduction of the regulatory regime.

Australian infrastructure, economics and politics differ from the USA. Australia has a PSTN duopoly (Telecom/Telstra and Optus) and three mobile telephone services providers (Telecom, Optus and Vodafone). Unlike the USA, cable TV is virtually non-existent in Australia. Pay TV licences have been issued, but the viability of services by cable, microwave or satellite is unclear.

Transmission technologies are available include:

* fibre-optic cable: high bandwidth; in place for PSTN exchanges; unproven viability to community and domestic sites;
* terrestrial microwave: for some transmissions
* analogue cellular mobile telephone: low-grade voice services, only economic in urban areas;
* digital cellular mobile telephone: better quality, some data services, only economic in urban areas;
* geo-synchronous satellites: for broadcast services
* low-orbit satellites: may be suitable for future mobile telephone and data applications

The telco, cable TV and broadcasting company's businesses are merging, due to rapid convergence of the digital technology. There is now an expectation of ubiquitous computing and communications facilities for telecommuters.

The Internet now threatens telcos and cable TV companies.

3. The Internet

Technically the Internet is a collection of networks inter-connected using Internet (IP) protocols. Administratively it is a non-hierarchical, collaborative arrangement. The Internet emerged from a USA Department of Defense sponsored project. The Internet's robustness and dispersed, non-hierarchical nature has been attributed to the military needs of the sponsor.

AARNet (the Australian Academic and Research Network) is a segment of the Internet which is located in Australia.  It was established under the auspices of the Australian Vice-Chancellor's Council (AVCC), and has to date been funded primarily by the Universities, the CSIRO, and the Australian Research Council.

The Internet has spawned an extraordinary explosion in creativity, with inter-personal communication and public electronic document access on a global scale. Australia is a significant user and contributor to the global Internet.

Previous technical barriers to Internet use have been overcome by easy to use personal computer client software for existing Internet services (e-mail, news and FTP) and new Internet information discovery/publishing services (gopher, WAIS and the world-wide web).

The Internet is now a routine tool for the University and research community, with university library catalogues; scientific papers and data. Government agencies are now beginning to make similar use. Limited use by the general community is also taking place.

Sound, graphics and images can now be transmitted via the Internet. Text messages can be delivered to fax machines, at a lower cost than the telcos' services. Synchronous conversations in text and sound are now common. Current experimental video transmission on the Internet may supplant official telco 'video-phone' services. Without any policy direction the Internet, may directly compete with other telco and cable TV services. This potential has attracted the attention of telcos, cable TV companies, and governments.

4. The Information Infrastructure and Information Services

It is conventional and useful to distinguish two levels: the infrastructure and the services which depend on it.

Information Infrastructure:

* high-capacity digital backbones;
* ubiquitous tails to the users: using cable and wireless transmission
* broad-band tails: for video-conferencing and multi-site visualisation work at limited locations;
* public terminal equipment: in public locations, such as libraries and shopping centres.

Information Services:

* low tail-capacity requirements
 - electronic mail
 - electronic newspapers
 - electronic encyclopaedias and other reference material
 - classified advertising
 - business data transfer
 - community bulletin boards
 - security services and utility meter reading
 - public information services (such as information kiosks)
 - data transfer for working from home (telecommuting/teleworking)
 - education services including remote classroom teaching (text-only)
 - home banking
 - home shopping (text-only)

* moderate tail-capacity requirements
 - multi-media mail, including video (i.e. asynchronous messaging)
 - modest-quality video-telephone (i.e. synchronous conversations)
 - high quality audio
 - interactive television
 - interactive multimedia (i.e. on-line video games)
 - video conferencing (including 'virtual meetings')
 - education services, e.g. remote classroom teaching  (including video)
 - home shopping (including image and/or video)

* high tail-capacity requirements
 - videos-on-demand (i.e. the electronic video shop)
 - high definition TV (HDTV)
 - medical services including remote diagnostics using imaging
 - linkages among high-performance computers

It is desirable that the infrastructure be capable of supporting all services, with different levels of service, depending on bandwidth available.

To facilitate commercial services, the infrastructure must support convenient forms of network-based value-transfer, by encrypted transmission of transactions and electronic cash.

5. The 'Information Superhighway' and Other Metaphors

Analogies are needed to help community education and policy discussion. The 'Information Superhighway', and equivalents in other languages, are commonly used in the USA, Australia and Europe.

The wrong metaphor could cause serious misunderstandings and 'infobahn' is suggested as the preferred term.

6. The Public Interest

The public's interest, as distinct from private corporate and government interests, is of critical importance in the information infrastructure debate.

6.1 The Internet

The Internet has a distinct culture, based on the contribution of individuals. This has resulted in the foundation of electronic communities, and an explosion of creativity.

Access to networked resources is quickly assuming the shape of a public utility, i.e. a service which needs to be available to all, on an equitable basis (such as clean water and the telephone in Western society). Network access is becoming a reasonable expectation of a resident in a civilised, information society.

Unlike many utilities, however, an information infrastructure must support a great diversity of services. This is partly due to the degree of openness and cultural variation, but also because change and creativity are dependent on diversity.

6.2 The Public Electronic Library

The Internet has re-defined the notion of 'library'. Documents are increasingly created in electronic form, and are increasingly available via the Internet. Existing printed documents are being scanned and made available over the net.

The librarians are adapting, by reducing the emphasis on curatorship function, and accentuating 'knowledge navigation' expertise. Libraries have been the means of equitable access to information to all; this must be maintained for the dispersed, electronic library.

6.3 Network Literacy

Public access to network services requires the public's ability to use them, as public libraries require literacy in the population. The whole population needs skills in order to operate computer equipment and use the basic application software. New literacy skills are needed for email and hypertext.

6.4     The Universal Telephone Service

The Australian Constitution recognised that equitable, universal access to transport and telecommunications services (telegraph) was fundamental to the cohesion of the federation.  A century later, equitable, universal access to today's networking services is for an information society.

An important aspect of telephone services, recently re-asserted by the regulatory authority Austel, is the freedom from monitoring of and interference with conversations. Freedom of thought, communication and assembly must be embedded in the conception and architecture of the information infrastructure.

6.5 Supplier-Driven Services Versus Participation

All parties on the PSTN have comparable (symmetrical) capacity to send and receive signals. In contrast cable television is 'asymmetrical', or 'broadcast' in style, i.e. suppliers have high sending capacity, and consumers have little or no capability. It would be against the public interest for the new information infrastructure to follow the asymmetrical pay TV model. The information infrastructure must be available for the public to exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities.

6.6 Justifying the Public Interest

The public interest argument is based on the notions of social equity, equal opportunity, and assistance for the socially and educationally disadvantaged, which are established underpinnings of contemporary Australian society.

Genuine democracy, demands that information infrastructure comprise inherently democratic structures, provide access to information to the population as a whole, and deny resource allocation to narrow interests.

Australia, with its high standard of living and hence high labour costs, must harness its well-educated population's creativity for a 'clever country'. Distance education can be used for geographical equity and for a flexible workforce.

Universal access to network services is a pre-condition for any society which seeks to sustain its well-being in a world of 'clever countries'.

Mutual understanding and tolerance may result from increased international telecommunications linkages, because of increased international interaction.

The Internet is designed to be robust, and can be adapted to third-world countries, with limited conventional telecommunications. Australia has a contribution to make to these countries.

6.7 Conclusion

* The dynamic, free and open nature of the Internet has been critical to its success, and the II needs to evidence similar characteristics;

* there is at least an expectation, and arguably a right, of equitable, universal access to at least a basic level of network services;

* the emergent 'public electronic library' must continue to be widely and freely accessible, for the same reasons that the public library movement has been of great historic importance to Australian society;

* widespread 'network literacy' is essential, to ensure equity of access;

* freedom of thought, communication and assembly must be embedded within the II's architecture;

* the II's architecture must be based on people's participation, rather than people's choice among a limited and supplier-dictated range of alternatives;  and

* it is socially, politically, economically and diplomatically important that all individuals have the opportunity for active participation in the 'information society'.


8.      Policy Proposals

8.1     The Role of Government

* stimulate and provide leadership in strategically important areas;
* create an environment in which desirable forms of economic and social activity can flourish;
* exercise control over excesses;  and
* intervene in areas in which market failure is demonstrably occurring or inevitable; BUT
* not intervene except where justified.

8.2     Infrastructure

* substantial public funding, in the early years is required.

* competition among many suppliers of diverse technologies must be encouraged.


Public Interests in Need of Protection

* universal access to a basic level of service for:
 - consumers, community groups, incorporated associations and small businesses;
 - education;
 - research;
 - health; and
 - libraries.

With:

* diversity of connection products and modes, and of carriers;
* distance-independence of transmission costs;  and
* civil rights:
 - freedom of access to information;
 - freedom of communication;  and
 - freedom from monitoring.

Governmental Leadership Measures:

* a policy on information technology use for community benefit;
* early targeted funding for core infrastructure.

Governmental Stimulatory Measures

* Open grants for research into relevant information technology (not just Co-operative Research Centre for Research Data Networks)
* $2 million per annum in grants for community-based applications and prototypes.
* grants for research into implications of relevant information technology and its applications
* direction from executive government for agencies to provide services via the infrastructure, and to use services available over it
* connection of all members of Parliament to the public network;
* All data gathered using public funds, be freely available to the public, via the network;
* intellectual property law revised to encourage creativity.

Governmental Co-ordination Measures

* a public policy advisory body be formed;
* regional public interest summits, for public education and policy,
* government agency use of open systems standards

Governmental Regulatory Measures

* removal of obstacles to diversity among carrier-technologies, carriers and services
* removal of financial institution's monopoly on electronic transactions;
* imposition of operating standards, where monopolies are required;
* clear laws on pornography and the incitement of racism
* refinement of existing enforcement regimes to ensure that the community's standards are sustained


8.3     Services


9.      Conclusions

Australia's information technologists have placed Australia among the top few nations in relation to the implementation of networking. This key national asset needs to be recognised and exploited for the economic and social benefit of all Australians. Australia's IT professionals, through such bodies as the Australian Computer Society, need to continue to promote the country's expertise to our Parliamentarians, community leaders and the community as a whole.

This Position Paper is based on 'Vision for a Networked Nation - The Public Interest in Network Services', the ACS's submission to the Broad-band Services Expert Group, 17 May 1994, by Roger Clarke, Chair of the Economic, Legal and Social Implications Committee and Tom Worthington Director, Community Affairs Board. It is available on the Internet at URL: ftp://archie.au/ACS/ACS-policy-networking-paper-draft.txt