My question to the group is this: do we wish to issue any kind of press release
about the recommendation? if yes, what are everyone's views?
If we do act, we should do so soon, so I would appreciate comments within the
next few days.
Thanks, Norm
=============
Universal E-mail Access Urged
National goal: Tax suggested to subsidize 'have-nots'
Published: Nov. 22, 1995
BY RORY J. O'CONNOR
Mercury News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Electronic mail is becoming so pervasive that universal access for
every American is ''imperative'' to the country's future and should be made a
national goal, according to a two-year study by the non-profit
Rand institution.
The study, released Tuesday, concludes that giving every citizen a unique
electronic mail address, and ensuring they have access to the appropriate
computers and communications lines, would have enormous social and econom
ic benefits. Among them: better education, greater participation in government,
better delivery of government services and more rapid development of the
''information superhighway,'' in which people who are thousands of m
iles apart could communicate and trade data over computer lines.
But the study's authors warned that the free market alone is unlikely to provide
such universal access. They recommended some government intervention to regulate
the development of the information superhighway and to subs
idize e-mail use by poor and rural Americans.
Under ideal circumstances, it would take about 10 years to ensure universal
e-mail access, at a public cost of around $1 billion per year, the study
projected. The money would cover the cost of a basic e-mail accounts and
computer equipment for people who couldn't afford it themselves and might be
delivered in the form of government vouchers paid for in part by a tax on e-mail
and communications providers.
Information apartheid
Yet the Rand group says the costs if the government and private industry doesn't
intervene could be even higher: The gap between information ''haves'' and ''have
nots'' is growing, according to the study, even as the numb
er of electronic mailboxes held by consumers has reached 6.7 million. Without a
concerted national effort, people who are now statistically unlikely to use
e-mail will increasingly fall victim to ''information apartheid,
'' the authors said.
E-mail is most likely to be used by wealthy, well-educated whites, while those
most at risk include people without college degrees, those with below-average
household incomes and ethnic minorities -- especially Hispanics,
African-Americans and Native Americans.
''In very important ways, they're being excluded from the fabric of American
life,'' said Tora K. Bikson, a Rand senior scientist and one of the study's
authors. ''We argue that this is not only feasible but vital to a he
althy society in the information age. And it is not likely to happen on its own,
without a national effort.''
As more and more people use computers with hookups to the Internet and on-line
services to communicate, millions of other people are being left behind because
of economic and societal differences that already have made t
hem disconnected.
The study bolsters the position of the Clinton administration, which has
consistently pushed for both universal access to the information superhighway
and federal involvement in the process.
''One of the things that concerns us is a widening gap between the affluent and
the poor, and information technologies can widen that gap,'' said Larry Irving,
assistant secretary of Commerce. If the country doesn't act t
o get the poor on-line, ''we're going to have increased social problems and
increased poverty.''
Use limited
But the study also shows that ethnic minorities are far less likely to use
e-mail than whites even when accounting for differences in income and education
levels. While researchers can't definitively account for that patt
ern, it does suggest that members of those groups might not use e-mail even were
it subsidized.
There is also a question of why the government should push for such rapid
universal access, given that most other mass communications technologies have
taken far longer to become diffused throughout the society. But Irvin
g suggested the study at least pointed out the need to examine the issue
further.
''It gives us some starting point for discussion at the state and local level,''
Irving said. ''And the debate hasn't even been held in Washington.''
The study comes when congressional opponents of Clinton's technology spending
are agitating to ax most federal information highway funds, attacking them as
corporate welfare or unwarranted government intervention in the m
arket.
A pair of telecommunication reform bills now being considered by a congressional
conference committee include language providing for universal access. But
neither bill calls for vouchers or a tax; instead, they rely on ce
rtain carriers like phone companies providing subsidized connections, much as
they do now for telephone service.
But the Rand study maintains that subsidies will not work in the competitive
environment the legislation would create for telecommunications services. That's
because some providers would have to subsidize people while oth
ers would not, depending on the kind of service the companies provide. The
companies that did subsidize some of its users would have to keep their prices
artificially high to cover the costs, putting themselves at a compe
titive disadvantage to the companies that didn't.
Information tax
A tax, however, is unlikely to be a popular proposal in the current climate on
Capitol Hill. Likewise, government vouchers probably will not be welcomed,
coming when Congress wants to cut back on most social entitlement p
rograms.
Irving said the administration has never proposed either taxes or vouchers to
pay for universal access, and the job should be accomplished ''with a minimum
amount of federal resources.''
Rand said the cost to the public treasury could amount to far less than $1
billion a year, however, in part because of corporate programs to provide
connections to underserved communities. AT&T, for instance, announced a
$150 million program last month to wire the nation's schools to the Internet.
The study also suggested computers could be provided to poor people through
computer recycling or the installation of ''pay phone''-style computers in
public places like libraries, and even on street corners. But it warne
d that such public systems should not be treated as a substitute for in-home
access.
Rand also said the government should take the role of developing or assigning a
unique e-mail address to every citizen, one that would be independent of the
company an individual used for e-mail service. That would both k
ick-start universal access as well as ensure that companies could produce e-mail
directories, similar to phone books, so anyone could reach anyone else.
There are several possible problems on the road to universal service, according
to the report and computer experts. There is danger of overloading the
infrastructure of computer networks, which at peak times already groan
under the weight of use by less than 10 percent of the population. There is the
opposite danger as well of individuals finding their electronic mailboxes
overloaded with junk mail.
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