FOR PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION IITF COMMITTEE REPORT March 10, 1995 SPECIAL NOTE: Effective April 1995, the IITF Committee Report will be distributed electronically. Please submit your electronic mailing address to Yvette Barrett at ybarrett@ntia.doc.gov by April 7, 1995, if you wish to continue to receive this Report. If you are not able to receive the Committee Report electronically, please contact Ms. Barrett to make alternate arrangements. Thank you for your cooperation. NII Advisory Council: On March 10, the NII Advisory Council will hold its ninth meeting from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Universal Amphitheater, Universal City, California. The agenda includes discussion of the NIIAC 1995 Plan. On March 9, Mega-Project I, II, and III (Privacy, Security and Intellectual Property) meetings will be held at the Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California. Open Electronic Meeting on Electronic Government: The IITF is planning an Open Electronic Meeting on Electronic Government to be held on May 1-14, 1995 to address connecting Americans to on-line government information and services. We anticipate creating a network of individuals and institutions that will continue the dialogue started by the conference. The Office of Management and Budget, the National Technical Information Service, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the National Performance Review are jointly sponsoring this event. Please contact Peter Weiss at 202/395-3785 if you are interested in working on this effort. COMMITTEE ON APPLICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY The full Committee on Applications and Technology met on February 1, 1995. The next two public meetings of the Committee are scheduled for March 21 and May 9, 1995, at NIST. February's meeting included a presentation by Mr. David Beering of Amoco Corporation who discussed ARIES, a project that demonstrated the value of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology to businesses. The authors of The Information Infrastructure: Reaching Society's Goals have been responding to comments on the report submitted by the private and public sectors, and they are currently compiling summary comments and responses for public release. The CAT continues to respond to requests for the first set of application papers, Putting the Information Infrastructure to Work. Both reports are available on the IITF World-Wide Web, Gopher, and FTP servers, as is the recently released Breaking the Barriers to the National Information Infrastructure conference report. In an attempt to help users better understand and explore the benefits of the NII, a prototype of an NII World-Wide Web homepage has been developed. This preliminary homepage is currently being reviewed by CAT participants. The CAT continued to provide support for the NII Awards Campaign by maintaining and updating on-line information. The Government Information Technology Services Working Group (GITS WG) met on February 9, 1995, at the Federal Trade Commission, Washington, D.C. Key issues discussed included the recently established Federal, State, and local panel, innovation fund pilot projects, the draft Internet Security Plan, and the government services information infrastructure (gsii) management strategy. GITS released an updated Action Plan which documents progress to date on each of the National Performance Review (NPR) Information Technology (IT) initiatives and milestones for future actions. GITS participated in the AFCEA Computing Conference and Exhibition (ACCE) held February 7-9, 1995 and the Service to the Citizen Summit held in Denver, Colorado. The AFCEA conference included discussions regarding the status of GITS initiatives and future plans. The Summit focused on discussions of electronic government pilot projects. The Technology Policy Working Group (TPWG) met February 10, 1995. The Advanced Digital Video and the National Information Infrastructure report was approved by the IITF. The National Research Council (NRC) continued activities on its TPWG sponsored assignment to map NII deployment. The NRC recently issued a call for white papers to multiple industries, sectors, organizations, and individual experts to be considered for discussion at the NII 2000 Spring Forum in Washington, D.C. on May 23-24, 1995. The TPWG initiated the development of a conference to be co-sponsored with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the National Science Foundation. The conference, to be held in Washington on July 6-7, 1995 will identify the economics, policy issues, trends, and candidate solutions associated with an interoperable NII/GII. Draft recommendations to begin the standards process project are being considered by the TPWG. The Health Information and Applications Working Group (HIAWG) met February 6 and March 6, 1995, at the Switzer building, U.S. Public Health Service, Washington, D.C. Telemedicine: Members of the Telemedicine subgroup participated in a focus group on provider/patient acceptance of telemedicine. They are reviewing evaluation instruments as a prelude to developing model criteria for evaluating telemedicine projects. The group also will be emphasizing lower cost, internet-based technologies. Consumer Health Information: Members of the Consumer Health Information subgroup submitted their draft of the consumer health information white paper for full HIAWG review and are currently disseminating the draft to selected outside reviewers before presenting it to the Networked Consumer Health Information Conference in May. Standards: Standards subgroup members are supporting the Administration's G7 efforts. Emergency Medicine: The Emergency Medicine subgroup presented its charter for HIAWG review. Their mission is to coordinate and optimize telecommunications investment for emergency preparedness. Roadmap: HIAWG representatives are participating in the planning activities of the Koop Foundation pertaining to public-private sector Health Information Infrastructure (HII) Road Map development. A meeting of selected CEO's and Agency Heads is planned for March 28. A series of HII Roadmap collaboratories are under consideration. Managed Care and the NII: The HIAWG will co-sponsor a Forum on "Managed Care and the NII" with the Kennedy School of Government, Information Infrastructure Forum. Planning is underway and the Forum is expected to be held at the Annenberg Foundation, in Washington, D.C. on April 21. Representatives of the telecommunication and health care communities will be invited. New Representation: Three additional Federal offices added representation to the HIAWG in February: The Advanced Technology Program (NIST); The National Performance Review (Office of the Vice President); and the Office of Tipper Gore (on issues related to mental health and telecommunications). TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY COMMITTEE The Telecommunications Policy Committee (TPC) met on January 10 at the Department of Commerce. The Committee heard a status report from each Working Group, as well as the NII Advisory Council. During the second half of the meeting, members of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) gave presentations to the TPC members, press and interested public. The TPC did not have a February meeting due to the rollout of the GII Agenda for Cooperation and the preparations for the G7 Ministerial in Brussels at the end of the month. The next public meeting of the TPC will be held on Tuesday, March 14, 1995 from 2:30-4:00 p.m. in Room 4830 of the Department of Commerce. The TPC meeting will be combined with the Universal Service Working Group meeting and will focus on rural telecommunications issues. To register, please contact Tatia Williams at NTIA at 202-482-0516 or twilliams@ntia.doc.gov. The Legislative Drafting Task Force meets frequently to discuss strategies for enacting telecommunications reform in the 104th Congress. The Legislative Drafting Task Force will continue to work with members of both the House and the Senate in an effort to bring more competition to the telecommunications market. The Universal Service Working Group will meet on March 14, from 2:30-4:00 p.m. in Room 4830 at the Department of Commerce. At this meeting the Working Group will hear presentations from those close to rural telecommunications issues. The Working Group will take information learned from this meeting into account when deciding on a project focusing on rural issues for completion in the next few months. The Reliability and Vulnerability Working Group (RVWG) has been working to ensure that telecommunications services and information systems of the NII will provide: high quality service for normal operations; maximum reliability of services to meet essential public, private, and commercial needs; and capabilities that meet national security and emergency preparedness requirements. The RVWG is developing a paper for the NII community that sets forth its vision of a reliable and robust NII, explaining the RVWG's goals, objectives, and preliminary results. The RVWG's Plan of Action (POA) will support the objectives presented in the vision paper by focusing on top level actions that address the RVWG's span of responsibilities and identifying tasks and organizational responsibilities for actions necessary to achieve these objectives. Mr. Robert M. Marquette, Deputy Manager, National Communications System, is the new RVWG chair, replacing Dr. David Signori, who recently accepted a position with DOD Advanced Research Projects Agency. Since the January RVWG meeting, work has continued within the four subgroups: Reliable Services to General Users, National Security and Emergency Preparedness, Protection of the Networks, and Integration and Planning. Subgroup activities underway include: o Review and coordination of the RVWG's vision paper o Coordination and input to the NII Security Plan, most recently in response to the February 7 draft of the NII Security Plan o Draft technology papers and preliminary recommendations on the reliability of the Internet, wireless technologies (e.g., personal communications systems (PCS), cellular, mobile) o Risk assessment o Definition of an NII coordinating mechanism The International Telecommunications Working Group has just completed work on the G-7 conference in Brussels. Representatives of Japan, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, and the Commission of the European Union (EU) met for this Ministerial Conference on the Information Society. At the first World Telecommunication Development Conference in March 1994, Vice President Gore called upon every nation to help build the GII by using the following principles as building blocks: o private investment; o competition; o open access; o universal service; and o flexible regulations. The Administration has played a leading role in advancing international consensus on these issues. The G-7 conference resulted in a number of accomplishments that will go a long way in helping to stimulate the development of the GII. The Vice President's five basic principles were embraced by the G-7 member nations as part of a set of principles they adopted. These principles form the basis for cooperation among the G-7 partners to realize common goals. The nations agreed to work together to develop solutions for protecting privacy, improving information security, encouraging creativity, and protecting intellectual property. One immediate consequence of the decisions taken at the meeting will be the initiation of 11 key pilot projects demonstrating technological applications that will help ensure that each nations' citizens have access to the benefits of the new information age. The conference sent a clear -- and highly important -- message that all countries must open their markets to more competition or be left behind in the technological revolution. INFORMATION POLICY COMMITTEE The Information Policy Committee (IPC) includes the Government Information Working Group, the Intellectual Property Rights Working Group, and the Privacy Working Group. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION WORKING GROUP (GIWG) Open Electronic Meeting on Electronic Government: Planning continues on the electronic open meeting to discuss the future look of government with respect to the delivery of services and benefits, dissemination of information, interactive rulemaking and technology. The Office of Management and Budget, the National Technical Information Service, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the National Performance Review are jointly sponsoring this event which will held on NTIS' Fedworld May 1-14, 1995. Three teams comprised of member agencies of the Government Wide Electronic Online Service Task Force, the National Performance Review Information Technology Team, and other agencies throughout the Federal and State governments are planning and will manage the meeting. Organizers are seeking considerable "outside the beltway" involvement in both planning and participation and a nationwide network of public access points is being developed to help include first time users of information technology. Agencies are asked to help locate and sponsor public access points. GIWG Working with Foundations on Sustainable Development: The GIWG, in cooperation with the Bauman Foundation and other leading foundations, and with the assistance of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, is seeking ways to use emerging electronic information dissemination technologies to support sustainable development. The Bauman Foundation is sponsoring a study of these needs. The first step is to identify specific federal information dealing with sustainable development that should be disseminated. This includes such data sources as economic, environmental, health, and education indicators. Next, the study will identify gaps in information access and dissemination, particularly among disadvantaged communities. Finally, it will examine the technical and policy needs associated with providing and using the information. The study and recommendations are expected to be completed soon. Improved Management of Scientific and Technical Information: The GIWG, in coordination with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, has chartered an interagency group to consider the development of effective information dissemination management systems addressing the particular problems of scientific and technical information. The group will review the implementation of OMB Circular No. A-130 for federal scientific and technical information within federal agencies with a view towards identifying and sharing "best practices" in information dissemination management. In addition, the group may determine whether additional implementation guidance would be useful in view of rapidly emerging technology and the development of the National Information Infrastructure. The group's report and recommendations are due in March, 1995. Electronic Record FOIA Legislation Group: Although the FOIA already covers records maintained in electronic form, the Act should be updated to reflect the demands of the information age and current caselaw. An interagency working group, chartered by OMB, has developed a set of principles relevant to the electronic issues surrounding the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The draft "Consensus Electronic Record Principles," is being circulated in Congress, the Administration, and interested public and private parties in order to stimulate discussion, lay the groundwork for developing consensus, and further the objectives of increasing the availability of information in electronic form and improving the administration of the FOIA. The Privacy Working Group has proposed revisions to the 1973 Code of Fair Information Practices in order to update it for the electronic era. The revisions will form the basis for actions, policies, and legislation to protect the privacy of individuals while allowing for the reasonable flow of information. The Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information were first published in the Federal Register on May 25, 1994, after approval by the IITF. They were submitted to the U.S. Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure and released for public comment. A revised draft was published on January 20, 1995, and again submitted for comment to the Advisory Council. Public comments are due on March 21, 1995. The PWG is next studying possibilities for implementation of a national privacy organization. The Intellectual Property Rights Working Group released a draft report regarding the effect of the National Information Infrastructure on intellectual property rights on July 7, 1994. Public hearings on the draft report were held September 14, 1994, in Chicago, September 16, 1994, in Los Angeles, and September 22 and 23, 1994, in Washington, D.C. in order to solicit comment on the report and to initiate a dialogue on the importance of intellectual property rights in the context of the NII. The Working Group also held a hearing in cooperation with the NII Advisory Council and the Security Issues Forum on the security requirements of intellectual property owners. The comment period closed on October 26, 1994, and over 150 written comments were received. The working group members are analyzing the comments and will revise the Green Paper accordingly. The final White Paper is expected in Spring 1995. The Working Group is sponsoring the conference on fair use. The Conference consists of roughly 45 representatives from the communities of copyright owners, educational institutions, and libraries. The goal of the Conference is to develop voluntary guidelines for fair use of copyrighted works by educators and libraries, similar to those developed in 1976, but updated for use in the NII environment. The group first met in September, and has met once a month since then. The role of the IPRWG is to facilitate the process of coming to an agreement between creators and users, but not to participate in the decisions of the Conference. The WG assists the Conference by disseminating the results of its work. (In 1976, the guidelines were made part of legislative history.) The Working Group is also sponsoring the Educational Conference on Rights and Responsibilities in conjunction with the Department of Education. This group will consist of state and local education agencies, owner groups, and professors of intellectual property; the goal will be to create voluntary curricula that can be adopted by those who wish to use it. The kickoff meeting is scheduled for March 21, 1995 at the Department of Education. THE NII SECURITY ISSUES FORUM The NII Security Issues Forum coordinates security efforts -- defined as confidentiality, integrity, and availability --across the IITF. Ms. Sally Katzen, chair, held the tenth meeting of the Forum on Tuesday, February 7, 1995. The NII Security Issues Forum has released for public comment draft "Security Tenets for the NII." This document articulates security fundamentals that the NII should be able to provide for its participants and users, such as the ability to be able to control who sees or does not see one's own information and under what terms. A related document being developed by the Forum is the "NII Security Plan." Without public confidence that information will go where it is supposed to go, when it is supposed to go, and nowhere else, the NII will not succeed as a vehicle to support applications in health, education, commerce, public services, and advanced communications. The Security Plan will: outline finding of security needs; present an analysis of technical, legal, and architectural issues relating to security; discuss the Federal and private sector roles in meeting these needs; and propose milestones towards the achievement of Federal roles. A draft will be issued for public comment in spring of 1995. In coordination with the NII Advisory Council Mega-Project on Security, Intellectual Property, and Privacy, a series of public meetings between government officials and representatives from the private sector are being held. Six meetings have been conducted so far. The final meeting, entitled, "The NII: Will It Be There When You Need It? Will It Be Safe To Use?" is scheduled for Tuesday, March 28, 1995 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Commerce Department Auditorium in Washington, D.C. This meeting will address the security concerns of users and providers of the public switched network, as well as cable, wireless, satellite, and Internet communications. Security of Federal Automated Information Systems: Appendix III of OMB Circular A-130, "Security of Federal Automated Information Systems," was issued in 1985. It requires Federal agencies to establish computer security programs and defines a minimum set of controls to be incorporated into those programs. Newer technology requires that security controls be updated. Based on an NPR recommendation, OMB plans to issue a revised Appendix this month for agency comment. Schedule of Upcoming Public Events March 14: Telecommunications Policy Committee and Universal Service Working Group Department of Commerce Room 4830 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. March 21: Committee on Applications and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Lecture Room B Gaithersburg, Maryland 10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. March 28: Security and the Public Switched Network and the Internet Department of Commerce Auditorium Washington, D.C. 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (co-sponsored by the NII Security Issues Forum and the NII Advisory Council's Mega- Project III) April 12: NII Advisory Council Santa Fe, New Mexico April 21: Managed Care and the NII Forum Annenberg Foundation Washington, D.C. (Co-sponsored by the Health Information & Applications Working Group and the Kennedy School of Government) May 9: Committee on Applications and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Lecture Room B Gaithersburg, Maryland 2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. This is the sixteenth monthly Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) Committee Report produced by the NII Secretariat at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the Department of Commerce. The IITF Gopher Server can be accessed through the Internet by pointing your Gopher Client to iitf.doc.gov or by telnet to iitf.doc.gov and login as gopher. Access is also available at the same address for World-Wide Web (WWW) clients. Dial-up access by modem is available at 202/501-1920.