Al Gore's support of the Internet, by V.Cerf and B.Kahn



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 17:43:58 -0400
From: vinton g. cerf <vcerf@MCI.NET>
To: Declan McCullaugh <declan@well.com>, farber@cis.upenn.edu
Cc: rkahn@cnri.reston.va.us
Subject: Al Gore and the Internet

Dave and Declan,

I am taking the liberty of sending to you both a brief
summary of Al Gore's Internet involvement, prepared by 
Bob Kahn and me. As you know, there have been a seemingly
unending series of jokes chiding the vice president for
his assertion that he "took the initiative in creating
the Internet."

Bob and I believe that the vice president deserves significant
credit for his early recognition of the importance of what has
become the Internet. 

I thought you might find this short summary of sufficient
interest to share it with Politech and the IP lists, respectively.

==============================================================

Al Gore and the Internet

By Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf
Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the
Internet and to promote and support its development. 

No one person or even small group of persons exclusively "invented" the
Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people
in government and the university community.  But as 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.

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. Though easily forgotten, now,
at the time this was an unproven and controversial concept.  Our work on the
Internet started in 1973 and was based on even earlier work that took place in
the mid-late 1960s. But 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.

As a Senator in the 1980s Gore urged government agencies to consolidate what at
the time were several dozen different and unconnected networks into an
"Interagency Network."  Working in a bi-partisan manner with officials in
Ronald Reagan and George Bush's administrations, Gore secured the passage of
the High Performance Computing and Communications Act in 1991.  This "Gore
Act" supported the National Research and Education Network (NREN) initiative
that became one of the major vehicles for the spread of the Internet beyond the
field of computer science.

As Vice President Gore promoted building the Internet both up and out, as well
as releasing the Internet from the control of the government agencies that
spawned it.  He served as the major administration proponent for continued
investment in advanced computing and networking and private sector initiatives
such as Net Day. He was and is a strong proponent of extending access to the
network to schools and libraries.  Today, approximately 95% of our nation's
schools are on the Internet. Gore provided much-needed political support for
the speedy privatization of the Internet when the time arrived for it to become
a commercially-driven operation.

There are many factors that have contributed to the Internet's rapid growth
since the later 1980s, not the least of which has been political support for
its privatization and continued support for research in advanced networking
technology.  No one in public life has been more intellectually engaged in
helping to create the climate for a thriving Internet than the Vice President.
Gore has been a clear champion of this effort, both in the councils of
government and with the public at large.  

The Vice President deserves credit for his early recognition of the value of
high speed computing and communication and for his long-term and consistent
articulation of the potential value of the Internet to American citizens and
industry and, indeed, to the rest of the world. 


Version 1.2
Word count: 709


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WorldCom
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Ashburn, VA 20147
Telephone (703) 886-1690
FAX (703) 886-0047


"INTERNET IS FOR EVERYONE!" 
INET 2001: Internet Global Summit 
5-8 June 2001 
Sweden International Fairs 
Stockholm, Sweden 
http://www.isoc.org/inet2001








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