NII, Competing Visions
Viewpoint:
Issue: Access
From the EFF's point of view, we are rapidly becoming a wired society. Delivery of information has transitioned from the interactive analog world of telephone and passive analog world of the broadcast media to the highly dispersed point-to-point and distributed processed digital environment.
Who gets it?
For the EFF, perhaps the most troubling aspect of the National Information Infrastructure discussion is the analogy to an information super highway. It is arguable that this analogy sets up a paradigm that has at its essence an inequality that exists today and by its very reference, seeks to perpetuate it. Although it is true that anyone in the society has access to the existing interstate highway system, and that no one, strictly speaking, denies access, it is also true that a driver's license (ascribe skill) and a functioning auto (ascribe technical resources or equipment) is necessary for utilization of the resource. Add to that the necessary economic resources needed to maintain and operate the vehicle and the problem becomes evident. From an educational point of view, access needs to be easy and as cost efficient as the neighborhood library.
In other words, the EFF believes that access must be available virtually on demand given the willingness to try to gain access, regardless of the individual's economic status or resources. Although it is true that some libraries are better than others, it is also true that every library has the ability to procure virtually any book or facsimile upon the patron's request. From an educational point of view it is essential that this degree of ease of access be at least maintained if not improved upon. In the past, the Federal Communications Commission, based on the Telecommunications Act of 1934, mandated equal or comparably equal access to citizens at a reasonable cost. Leaving aside for the moment the other negative effects of the FCC, access for educational needs was virtually guaranteed for even the smallest rural school. Some government branches continue to argue for this approach. As recently as March 2, 1995, Larry Irving, assistant secretary for communications and Information from the U.S. Department of Commerce, argued this point in testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Who owns it?
Ownership of information is one issue, ownership of the very structure that it flows through is another. The hue and cry if there were unregulated ownership of essentials such as water and safety services would be deafening. So also with the ownership of the infrastructure. From an educational point of view, privatization must be tempered with an eye towards the policy of public good, and those willing to invest the resources to create and maintain the infrastructure must be regulated in their efforts to assure maximum return on investment and recapture of capital. This, by its definition, requires the involvement of the process of inquiry. Without at least that, there would be a circumstance where the needs of economics would open the possibilities of schools without books and parks without access roads. The phone companies believe they should in essence "take over " the internet and set up a pricing structure that is essentially based on a model similar to the toll long distance and local system. They call their efforts the "alliance for competitive communications."
Question: After the highway is built and the cars are all sold, where will the gas stations be located?
Part and parcel to the entire issue of access is the notion of where, to use the Information super highway analogy, the gas stations will be located. The gas station can be described, from the access point of view in the educational context, as places and resources where ordinary individuals engaged in educational activities can go and receive information and "repairs" about the endeavors they are engaged in and the resources they will need. Without these issues being settled with an educational point of view in mind...there will emerge electronic "Virtual Ghettos" as Ken Konoski writes in "preventing the Virtual Ghetto".
In addition to the access issues surrounding users gaining access to information, the EFF sees also the issue of providers gaining access to the users. This issue has significant overlap with the notion of security and privacy. However, it should be reasonable to assume that the information infrastructure in an educational context has the capabilities and processes in place for providers of information for whom discourse with the consumers of that information is an essential need.
Note: the views expressed in this document are an interpretation and unless explicitly noted do not represent the actual viewpoints of the named organizations.
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