Al Gore and information technology

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Al Gore, official portrait, 1994
Al Gore, official portrait, 1994

Al Gore is the former Vice-President of the United States (1993-2001), the 2000 Democratic Party presidential nominee, and the co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He has been involved with the development of the Internet since the 1970s.

Contents

[edit] Congressional work and Gore Bill

According to Campbell-Kelly and Aspray (Computer: A History of the Information Machine), up until the early 1990s public usage of the Internet was limited and the "problem of giving ordinary Americans network access had exercised Senator Al Gore since the late 1970s." [1]

Of Gore's involvement in the then-developing Internet while in Congress, Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn have also noted that,

As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship [...] the Internet, as we know it today, was not deployed until 1983. When the Internet was still in the early stages of its deployment, Congressman Gore provided intellectual leadership by helping create the vision of the potential benefits of high speed computing and communication. As an example, he sponsored hearings on how advanced technologies might be put to use in areas like coordinating the response of government agencies to natural disasters and other crises.[2]

As a Senator, Gore began to craft the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 (commonly referred to as "The Gore Bill" [3]) after hearing the 1988 report Toward a National Research Network[4] submitted to Congress by a group chaired by UCLA professor of computer science, Leonard Kleinrock, one of the central creators of the ARPANET (the ARPANET, first deployed by Kleinrock and others in 1969, is the predecessor of the Internet). [5]

Indeed, Kleinrock would later credit both Gore and The Gore Bill (High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991) as a critical moment in Internet history:

A second development occurred around this time, namely, then-Senator Al Gore, a strong and knowledgeable proponent of the Internet, promoted legislation that resulted in President George Bush signing the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991. This Act allocated $600 million for high performance computing and for the creation of the National Research and Education Network [13–14]. The NREN brought together industry, academia and government in a joint effort to accelerate the development and deployment of gigabit/sec networking.[6]

The bill was passed on Dec. 9, 1991 and led to the National Information Infrastructure (NII)[7] which Gore referred to as the "information superhighway". President George H. W. Bush predicted that the bill would help "unlock the secrets of DNA," open up foreign markets to free trade, and a promise of cooperation between government, academia, and industry.[8]

Text of the bill can be found here [9]

Prior to its passage, Gore discussed the basics of the bill in an article for the September 1991 issue of Scientific American entitled Scientific American presents the September 1991 Single Copy Issue: Communications, Computers, and Networks. His essay, "Infrastructure for the Global Village", commented on the lack of network access described above and argued: "Rather than holding back, the U.S. should lead by building the information infrastructure, essential if all Americans are to gain access to this transforming technology" [10] [...] "high speed networks must be built that tie together millions of computers, providing capabilities that we cannot even imagine." [11]

[edit] Mosaic

Plaque commemorating the creation of the Mosaic web browser.
Plaque commemorating the creation of the Mosaic web browser.

Perhaps one of the most important results of the Gore Bill was the development of Mosaic in 1993. [12][13] This World Wide Web browser is credited by most scholars as beginning the Internet boom of the 1990s:

Gore's legislation also helped fund the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, where a team of programmers, including Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, created the Mosaic Web browser, the commercial Internet's technological springboard. 'If it had been left to private industry, it wouldn't have happened,' Andreessen says of Gore's bill, 'at least, not until years later.'[14]

[edit] Vice President and Information Superhighway

[edit] Early projects

As Vice President, Gore promoted the development of what he referred to as the Information Superhighway. This was discussed in detail a few days after winning the election in November 1992 in the The New York Times article "Clinton to Promote High Technology, With Gore in Charge."[15]They planned to finance research that "that will flood the economy with innovative goods and services, lifting the general level of prosperity and strengthening American industry."[15] Specifically, they were aiming to fund the development of, "robotics, smart roads, biotechnology, machine tools, magnetic-levitation trains, fiber-optic communications and national computer networks. Also earmarked are a raft of basic technologies like digital imaging and data storage."[15] These initiatives were met with some skepticism from critics who claimed that, "the initiative is likely to backfire, bloating Congressional pork and creating whole new categories of Federal waste." [15] These initiatives were outlined in the report, Technology for America's Economic Growth. [16]In September 1993, they released a report calling for the creation of a "nationwide information superhighway" which would primarily be built by private industry.[17] Gary Stix commented on these initiatives a few months prior in his May 1993 article for Scientific American, "Gigabit Gestalt: Clinton and Gore embrace an activist technology policy." Stix described them as a "distinct statement about where the new administration stands on the matter of technology [...] gone is the ambivalence or outright hostility toward government involvement in little beyond basic science." [18] Campbell-Kelly and Aspray further note in Computer: A History of the Information Machine:

In the early 1990s the Internet was big news.... In the fall of 1990 there were just 313,000 computers on the Internet; by 1996, there were close to 10 million. The networking idea became politicized during the 1992 Clinton-Gore election campaign, where the rhetoric of the Information Superhighway|information highway captured the public imagination. On taking office in 1993, the new administration set in place a range of government initiatives for a National Information Infrastructure aimed at ensuring that all American citizens ultimately gain access to the new networks. [19]

These initiatives were discussed in a number of venues. Clinton and Gore submitted the report, Science in the National Interest in 1994, [20] which further outlined their plans to develop science and technology in the United States. Gore also discussed these plans in speeches that he made at The Superhighway Summit [21] at UCLA and for the International Telecommunications Union. [22]

On January 13, 1994 Gore "became the first U.S. vice president to hold a live interactive news conference on an international computer network". [23] Gore was also asked to write the foreword to the 1994 internet guide, The Internet Companion: A Beginner’s Guide to Global Networking (2nd edition) by Tracy LaQuey. In the foreword he stated the following:

Since I first became interested in high-speed networking almost seventeen years ago, there have been many major advances both in the technology and in public awareness. Articles on high-speed networks are commonplace in major newspapers and in news magazines. In contrast, when as a House member in the early 1980's, I called for creation of a national network of "information superhighways," the only people interested were the manufacturers of optical fiber. Back then, of course, high-speed meant 56,000 bits per second. Today we are building a national information infrastructure that will carry billions of bits of data per second, serve thousands of users simultaneously, and transmit not only electronic mail and data files but voice and video as well.[24]

The Clinton-Gore administration launched the first official White House website on 21 October 1994.[25][26] It would be followed by three more versions, resulting in the final edition launched in 2000.[27][28] The White House website was part of a general movement by this administration towards web based communication: "Clinton and Gore were responsible for pressing almost all federal agencies, the U.S. court system and the U.S. military onto the Internet, thus opening up America's government to more of America's citizens than ever before. On 17 July 1996. President Clinton issued Executive Order 13011 - Federal Information Technology, ordering the heads of all federal agencies to fully utilize information technology to make the information of the agency easily accessible to the public."[29]

[edit] Clipper Chip

In 1994, Vice President Gore issued a memo on the topic of encryption which stated that under a new policy the White House would "provide better encryption to individuals and businesses while ensuring that the needs of law enforcement and national security are met. Encryption is a law and order issue since it can be used by criminals to thwart wiretaps and avoid detection and prosecution." [30]

The initial and two later initiatives involved the Clipper Chip, a method of hardware encryption with a government backdoor. All three Clipper Chip initiatives failed to gain widespread acceptance by consumers or support from the industry.[31] The ability of a proposal such as the Clipper Chip to meet the stated goals, especially that of enabling better encryption to individuals, was disputed by a number of experts. [32]

Another initiative proposed a software-based key escrow system, in which keys to all encrypted data and communications would reside with a trusted third party. Since the government was seen as possibly having a need to access encrypted data originating in other countries, the pressure to establish such a system was worldwide.[33]

These policies met with strong opposition from civil liberty groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, scientific groups such as the National Research Council,[34] leading cryptographers,[35] and the European Commission.[36] By 1996, the Clipper Chip was abandoned. [37]

[edit] Additional projects

On 8 February 1996, 24 Hours in Cyberspace was launched as the "the largest one-day online event" up to that date and Second Lady Tipper Gore was one of its 150 photographers.[38] Vice President Gore also contributed the introductory essay to the Earthwatch section of the website.[39] In this essay, he discusses the impact of the Internet on the environment, education, and increased communication between people. He also states that "by enlisting cyberspace to change the way we think, we are creating the conditions for changing the way we act. And that is literally changing our world. Not bad for a day's work -- even for a day in the life of cyberspace." [40] On 23 January 1997 a photographic exhibition of 24 Hours in Cyberspace was unveiled at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. It was introduced by then - Vice President Al Gore.[41][42] who was also given a copy of the book and CD. [43]

In 1998 Gore gave a speech concerning an "Electronic Bill of Rights" in which he introduced methods of protecting privacy in the age of digital technology: "We need an electronic bill of rights for this electronic age [...] You should have the right to choose whether your personal information is disclosed." [44]

During this time, Gore also began promoting a NASA satellite that would provide a constant view of Earth, marking the first time such an image would have been made since The Blue Marble photo from the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. The "Triana" satellite would have been permanently mounted in the L1 Lagrangian Point, 1.5 million km away.[45] Gore also became associated with Digital Earth.[46]

[edit] 1999 CNN interview controversy

On 9 March 1999, Gore gave an interview for CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, in which he stated:

“ During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system. [47] ”

UCLA professor of information studies, Philip E. Agre [48][49] and journalist Eric Boehlert[50] both argue that three articles in Wired News led to the creation of the widely spread urban legend that Gore claimed to have "invented the Internet," which followed this interview. [51] This urban legend became "an automatic laugh. Jay Leno, David Letterman, or any other comedic talent can crack a joke about Al Gore 'inventing the Internet,' and the audience is likely to respond with howls of laughter."[52] The Daily Howler added that although the 11 March 1999 Wired News article [53] was the first to critique the CNN interview, it did not introduce the phrase, "invented the Internet." The first person to do so was former Republican congressman from Florida, Mark Foley.[54]

In response, Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn wrote a 29 September 2000 article (originally sent via email) which described Gore's contributions to the Internet since the 1970s, including his work on the Gore Bill:

“ [A]s the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective.[55] ”
Al Gore, Newt Gingrich, and President Bill Clinton in 1997.
Al Gore, Newt Gingrich, and President Bill Clinton in 1997.

In addition, Newt Gingrich, former Republican Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, also argued for Gore's role in the development of the Internet:

“ In all fairness, it’s something Gore had worked on a long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in all fairness, Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet, and the truth is—and I worked with him starting in 1978 when I got [to Congress], we were both part of a 'futures group'—the fact is, in the Clinton administration, the world we had talked about in the ’80s began to actually happen.[56][57] ”

In September 2000, Gore would later poke "fun at himself and George W. Bush in an easygoing interview Thursday with David Letterman on CBS's Late Show." [58] He read Letterman's Top 10 List, which for this show was called: "Top Ten Rejected Gore - Lieberman Campaign Slogans." Number nine on the list was: "Remember, America, I gave you the Internet, and I can take it away!" [59]

[edit] Post-Vice Presidency

Gore continued his involvement with the computer industry and new technologies after he left the White House in 2001.

[edit] Apple and Google

He has been a member of the board of directors of Apple Inc. since 2003 and serves as a Senior Advisor to Google Inc.[60]

Gore at the Ansari X Prize Executive Summit, October 19, 2006
Gore at the Ansari X Prize Executive Summit, October 19, 2006

[edit] The Webbys

On 06 June 2005, Gore was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award "for three decades of contributions to the Internet" at The Webby Awards. In giving him the award, Tiffany Shlain (the awards' founder and chairwoman) stated that she "wanted to set the record straight [...] it's just one of those instances someone did amazing work for three decades as Congressman, Senator and Vice President and it got spun around into this political mess." [61] Gore, during his acceptance speech (limited to five words according to Webby Awards rules), joked: "Please don't recount this vote." [62]

[edit] Current TV

On May 4, 2004, INdTV Holdings, a company co-founded by Gore and Joel Hyatt, purchased cable news channel NewsWorld International from Vivendi Universal. The new network would not "be a liberal network, a Democratic network or a political network", Gore said, but would serve as an "independent voice" for a target audience of people between 18 and 34 "who want to learn about the world in a voice they recognize and a view they recognize as their own."[63]

The network was relaunched under the name Current TV on August 1, 2005. On September 16, 2007, Current TV won the Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television award at the 2007 Primetime Emmys [64] for its use of online technologies with television. In his acceptance speech, Gore stated, "we are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help to make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make. More to come. Current.com. Next month." [65]

[edit] The Assault on Reason

Gore's 2007 book, The Assault on Reason, is an analysis of what he calls the "emptying out of the marketplace of ideas" in civic discourse, which, according to Gore, is due to the influence of electronic media, especially television, and which endangers American democracy; but he also expresses the belief that the Internet can revitalize and ultimately "redeem the integrity of representative democracy."[66]

[edit] Selected honors and awards

[edit] Bibliography

Books, forwards, and other publications
Articles, reports, and speeches

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Campbell-Kelly and Aspray (1996).Computer: A History of the Information Machine. New York: BasicBooks, 298
  2. ^ Kahn, Bob & Cerf, Vint (2000-09-29), Al Gore and the Internet, <http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0009/msg00311.html>. Retrieved on 2 June 2007 
  3. ^ "Computher History Museum Exhibits:1991", computerhistory.org, Computer History Museum. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  4. ^ Kleinrock, Leonard; Kahn, Bob; Clark, David & et al. (1988), Toward a National Research Network, <http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=NI000393>. Retrieved on 1 June 2007 
  5. ^ Kleinrock, Leonard; Cerf, Vint; Kahn, Bob & et al. (2003-12-10), A Brief History of the Internet, <http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Transition>. Retrieved on 1 June 2007 
  6. ^ Kleinrock, Leonard. "The Internet rules of engagement: then and now", lk.cs.ucla.edu. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  7. ^ Chapman, Gary & Rotenberg, Marc (1995), Johnson, Deborah G. & Nissanbaum, Helen, eds., Computers, Ethics, & Social Values, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, pp. The National Information Infrastructure:A Public Interest Opportunity: 628-644 
  8. ^ Bush, George H.W.. "Remarks on Signing the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991", bushlibrary.tamu.edu, George Bush Presidential Library, 09 December 1991. Retrieved on 2008-01-16. 
  9. ^ Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)
  10. ^ Gore, Al (1991). "Infrastructure for the Global Village"Scientific American presents the September 1991 Single Copy Issue: Communications, Computers, and Networks, 150
  11. ^ Gore, Al (1991). "Infrastructure for the Global Village" Scientific American presents the September 1991 Single Copy Issue: Communications, Computers, and Networks, 152
  12. ^ "NCSA Mosaic -- September 10, 1993 Demo", totic.org, 10 September 1993. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  13. ^ "Mosaic -- The First Global Web Browser", livinginternet.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  14. ^ Perine, Keith. "The Early Adopter - Al Gore and the Internet - Government Activity", findarticles.com, The Industry Standard, 23 October 2000. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  15. ^ a b c d Broad, William (November 10, 1992), Clinton to Promote High Technology, With Gore in Charge, New York Times, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DD1130F933A25752C1A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print> 
  16. ^ Clinton, William & Gore, Al (1993-02-22), Technology for America's Economic Growth, <http://www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/JPODOCS/BRIEFING/7423.pdf>. Retrieved on 1 June 2007 
  17. ^ Andrews, Edmund (September 15, 1993), BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Policy Blueprint Ready For Data Superhighway, The New York Times, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DE133BF936A2575AC0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print> 
  18. ^ Stix, Gary (May 1993), “Gigabit Gestalt: Clinton and Gore embrace an activist technology policy”, Scientific American: 122-126 
  19. ^ Campbell-Kelly and Aspray (1996). Computer: A History of the Information Machine. New York: BasicBooks, 283
  20. ^ Clinton, William & Gore, Al (August 1994), Science in The National Interest, <http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/13/50/fe.pdf>. Retrieved on 16 January 2008 
  21. ^ Gore, Al. "Remarks as Delivered by Vice President Al Gore to The Superhighway Summit, Royce Hall, UCLA", clintonfoundation.org, 11 January 1994. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  22. ^ Gore, Al. "Remarks As Delivered by Vice President Al Gore at the International Telecommunications Union", clinton1.nara.gov, 21 March 1994. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  23. ^ Gore, Al. "The CompuServe Information Service: Transcript of Vice President Al Gore in Convention Center", clintonfoundation.org, 13 January 1994. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  24. ^ Gore, Al. "Foreword by Vice President Al Gore to The Internet Companion", 1994. Retrieved on 2007-06-07. 
  25. ^ "Welcome to the White House". Retrieved on 2007-06-06. 
  26. ^ "The Clinton White House Web Site:Part 2: Preserving the Clinton White House Web site". Retrieved on 2007-06-06. 
  27. ^ "Welcome to the White House". Retrieved on 2007-06-06. 
  28. ^ "The Clinton White House Web Site:Part 2: Preserving the Clinton White House Web site". Retrieved on 2007-06-06. 
  29. ^ "The Clinton White House Web Site:Part 1: Perhaps the most important Web site in American history". Retrieved on 2007-06-06. 
  30. ^ STATEMENT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
  31. ^ The Clipper Chip
  32. ^ Crypto Experts Letter
  33. ^ Commercial Policy
  34. ^ Press release
  35. ^ The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow, & Trusted Third Party Encryption
  36. ^ "Europeans Reject U.S. Plan On Electronic Cryptography"
  37. ^ Rendering Unto CESA
  38. ^ Picture This:Tipper Gore, Photojournalist
  39. ^ Earthwatch: 24 Hours in Cyberspace
  40. ^ Vice President Al Gore's introduction to Earthwatch: 24 Hours In Cyberspace
  41. ^ 24 Hours in Cyberspace: Smithsonian
  42. ^ Cisco Systems And HP Sponsor Smithsonian Exhibit
  43. ^ "24 Hours in Cyberspace" (and more)
  44. ^ VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES NEW STEPS TOWARD AN ELECTRONIC BILL OF RIGHTS
  45. ^ Earth-Viewing Satellite Would Focus On Educational, Scientific Benefits. Science Daily. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  46. ^ Digital Earth History. The 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth.
  47. ^ "Transcript: Vice President Gore on CNN's 'Late Edition'", CNN, CNN, 09 March 1999. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  48. ^ Agre, Philip. "Who Invented "Invented"?:Tracing the Real Story of the "Al Gore Invented the Internet" Hoax", Red Rock Eater Digest, Red Rock Eater Digest, 17 October 2000. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  49. ^ Finkelstein, Seth. "Al Gore "invented the Internet" - resources", 28 April 2006. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  50. ^ Boehlert, Eric. "Wired Owes Al Gore an Apology", huffingtonpost.com, huffingtonpost.com, 28 April 2006. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  51. ^ Urban legend on Snopes.com: "Al Gore Invented the Internet"
  52. ^ Wiggins, Richard. "Al Gore and the Creation of the Internet", firstmonday.org, firstmonday.org, October 2000. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  53. ^ McCullagh, Donald. "No Credit Where It's Due", wired.com, wired.com, 11 March 1999. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  54. ^ Daily Howler:UPDATE—SONS OF FOLEY
  55. ^ Kahn, Bob & Cerf, Vint (2000-09-29), Al Gore and the Internet, <http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0009/msg00311.html>. Retrieved on 2 June 2007 
  56. ^ url=http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh120302.shtml
  57. ^ url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200705230008
  58. ^ Boehlert, Eric. "Gore Does Dave", cbsnews.com, cbsnews.com, 14 September 2000. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  59. ^ Boehlert, Eric. "Gore Does Dave", cbsnews.com, cbsnews.com, 14 September 2000. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  60. ^ "Albert Gore Jr.: Former Vice President of the United States", apple.com, apple.com, March 2003. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  61. ^ "Webby Awards not laughing at Gore's contribution to Net Former Vice President of the United States", usatoday.com, usatoday.com, 05 May 2005. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  62. ^ "Web Honors Go to Al Gore and Others", abcnews.go.com, abcnews.go.com, 10 June 2005. Retrieved on 2007-06-02. 
  63. ^ "Al Gore Buying Int'l News Channel". CBS News. May 4, 2005.
  64. ^ 59th Primetime Emmy Awards
  65. ^ 2007 Primetime Emmys Acceptance Speech
  66. ^ Gore, Al. The Assault on Reason (New York: Penguin Press, 2007): 270
  67. ^ Vice President Albert Gore Accepts Cisco Circle Award, cisco.com, June 23, 1993, <http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/1993/corp_062393.html> 
  68. ^ The Computerworld Honors Program: Honoring Those Who Use Information Technology to Benefit Society
  69. ^ 2007 Awards for the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

[edit] External links

General:

Versions of first White House website:

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Al Gore
Family
Tipper Gore (spouse) · Karenna Gore Schiff (daughter) · Kristin Gore (daughter) · Albert Gore, Sr. (father) · Pauline LaFon Gore (mother)
Political career
Elections
Global warming
Technology
Books
Earth in the Balance · Businesslike Government · Common Sense Government · From Red Tape to Results · The Spirit of Family · Joined at the Heart · An Inconvenient Truth : The Crisis of Global Warming · An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It · The Assault on Reason · The Path to Survival