FOR PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION IITF COMMITTEE REPORT April 12, 1994 IITF: The third IITF meeting was held on April 12 at the Old Executive Office Building, chaired by Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown. Attached is an organization chart and an updated list of all IITF Committees and Working Groups. NII Advisory Council: On April 25, the U.S. Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure (NII) will hold its third meeting at National Public Radio (NPR), 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The meeting will be open to the public, and all IITF participants are welcome. Topics to be addressed are the three mega projects: (1) vision and goals driven by specific applications; (2) access to the NII; and (3) privacy, security, and intellectual property. Public Interest Conference: On March 29, the IITF co-sponsored a Public Interest Conference with several private foundations, including the Benton Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Video Resources, the Marino Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the Bauman Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The conference, entitled "Shaping the NII: Public Interest Summit," featured prominent speakers and panelists such as Vice President Gore, Ralph Nader, Mitchell Kapor, C. Everett Koop (former Surgeon General), Sonia Jarvis, Wade Henderson (represented Benjamin Chavis, NAACP), Linda Tarr-Whelan, Morton Bahr, Cushing Dolbeare, Sally Katzen, and Deborah Kaplan. The conference provided a forum for various segments of the public interest community to address the broader social, economic and political issues related to the NII. More than 600 people attended the event, which was also broadcast on C-SPAN and in 30 radio markets. Telecommunications Policy Committee The Telecommunications Policy Committee (TPC) met on April 7 at the Department of Commerce. The Committee, chaired by Assistant Secretary Larry Irving, heard progress reports from its Working Groups and was briefed on various legislative, universal service, international, and network reliability and survivability issues. Michael Corrigan of General Services Administration (GSA) briefed the TPC on the FCC filing by GSA to reserve a 3-digit telephone number for the Federal Government. This would be a number similar to the 411 and 911 numbers now available for information and emergency services, respectively. Robert Portman of the Department of Labor briefed the group on telecommunications legislative issues raised by the labor community, particularly the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The Legislative Drafting Task Force holds daily conference calls and meets frequently to discuss legislative policy issues and strategy. The Administration decided not to send up its own telecommunications bill, preferring to work with Congress on the bills currently under consideration. The Administration has endorsed the underlying goals of all three bills, and the Legislative Drafting Task Force has provided detailed comments and various amendments to the House and Senate, including a proposal to add a new Title VII to the Communications Act of 1934 to create a new, flexible regulatory regime for broadband, digital, switched interactive services. The Universal Service Working Group has been providing guidance and assistance on issues related to NTIA's series of Universal Service field hearings. The third public hearing is scheduled for April 27, 1994, at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business (Geneen Auditorium), Durham, North Carolina. The hearing will focus on open access to the network and address "Meeting the Information Needs of All Americans." Deputy Secretary of Commerce David Barram, Assistant Secretary Larry Irving and FCC Commissioner Andrew Barrett will participate on the hearing board. At the hearing, various private sector representatives will also demonstrate new technologies. A fourth hearing has been planned for May 13 in the Silicon Valley area of California. This hearing will also focus on open access issues. The next hearing will be in the Midwestern part of the United States during the summer. In addition, the Universal Service Working Group is planning a "virtual" or electronic hearing on universal service and/or open access issues later this year. The TPC discussed the results of the first two universal service hearings, and a summary of the Los Angeles hearing was distributed. (The summary is available through the IITF BBS.) The Network Reliability and Vulnerability Working Group, chaired by Dr. David Signori, met on March 22, 1994 at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). This meeting focused on proposed legislation regarding telecommunications, particularly H.R. 3636 (the Markey Bill) and S. 1822 (the Hollings Bill), and the treatment of network reliability and security issues. The group also discussed long term projects, such as a more thorough review of telecommunications, cable, and satellite broadcast provisions to determine completeness and consistency of key aspects of reliability and security for these media. The third meeting of the Working Group was held on April 5 at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). The agenda included briefings on national security and emergency preparedness (by NCS) and ongoing security activities (by the National Institute for Science and Technology and the National Security Agency). A full-day "offsite" meeting is planned for April 22 in Reston, Virginia. Contact James Pottmyer for further information -- pottmyej@cc.ims.disa.mil or (703)746-6969. The Subworking Groups of the International Telecommunications Working Group have continued to meet, and work is progressing within each. The Legislative Subworking Group is working on the most time critical basis, preparing provision-by-provision analyses of the leading House and Senate telecommunications bills, as well as the Administration's proposals. The Subworking Group on International Organizations and Standards has compiled a calendar of upcoming international meetings and events of the major organizations. This calendar will ensure timely interagency preparation of papers and Administration positions for such events. In addition, the Subworking Group created "fact sheets" on the various international organizations that attend these events. The Subworking Group on Foreign Government/Corporate Participation has been cataloging requests for bilateral treaties relating to the NII and/or telecommunications and developing a mechanism for interagency coordination in responding to such requests. Furthermore, the Subworking Group has identified the current U.S. international commitments and the barriers to further participation by foreign governments and corporations. The Subworking Group on Technology Transfers has been assessing the technologies other countries will seek, the foreign availability of various technologies, the U.S. position in selective markets relative to other vendors, and the effect of restricting technology transfers to such countries. Committee on Applications and Technology The major efforts of the Committee on Applications and Technology (CAT) during March continued to be drafting the NII Application Papers and sponsoring meetings of the Working Groups. Additionally, the CAT established a new Working Group, the Health Information and Applications Working Group (HIA WG), to address the health care applications of the NII. The next public CAT meeting will be held at NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland on April 29, 1994, from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Ms. Jane Smith Patterson, Advisor to the Governor of North Carolina for Policy, Budget, and Technology, is scheduled to be the guest speaker at the meeting. The Application Papers describe a national vision for the NII in each of several application arenas, summarize current private and public activities in each application arena, and provide short-and long-term objectives for achieving each vision. The seven initial applications arenas are: manufacturing, health care, education, electronic commerce, environmental monitoring, digital libraries, and government services. Other application arenas are being considered. The papers will be presented to the full IITF in April. Initial drafts of each application arena were distributed for comment, and the CAT agreed at their March 17 meeting to forward the papers to the IITF for their approval to send the documents to the NII Advisory Council and the public for comment. The Government Information Technology Services Working Group (GITS WG), chaired by Jim Flyzik, met on March 10 and April 5. The GITS WG focused on revising the GITS Action Plan, and defining roles and responsibilities of the GITS Champion, the Office of Primary Responsibility, and Support Teams with respect to items in the Action Plan. The Technology Policy Working Group (TPWG), chaired by Duane Adams, held meetings March 3 and 25. The TPWG's three subgroups (NII Technology Roadmap, NII Services Architecture and Digital TV and NII Interoperability) met several times during March to establish their workplans and begin addressing their specific issues. Dr. Robert Kahn from the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (and an NII Advisory Council member) provided a presentation on both of these organizations to the TPWG at their March 25 meeting. The TPWG is working with NIST to host a workshop on Digital Video and the NII, May 10-11. The TPWG is also continuing to work with the NII Forum Steering Committee to discuss the forum results, and determine the plan for releasing the results. The Health Information and Applications Working Group (HIA WG) met for the first time on March 10. The HIA WG has been addressing their charter, mission, focus, and potential products. Their mission is to foster the development, deployment, and use of the NII to improve the health of all Americans. In particular, they will address commonality issues with other NII national challenge applications; privacy issues associated with health information, interoperability standards for exchange of clinical, administrative, personal, and public health data; and barriers and incentives to the development and use of the NII for health; and they will serve as a coordination point for the health care and NII arena. Information Policy Committee The Information Policy Committee last met on March 14, 1994, to hear progress reports from and set priorities for its three working groups. It was also briefed on the work of the new cross-cutting NII Security Issues Forum of the IITF. NII Security Issues Forum Information Policy Committee chair Sally Katzen sponsored a cross-cutting meeting on Security and the NII on Friday, February 18, 1994. The meeting was a first effort to coordinate security efforts -- defined as confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and systems -- across all three committees and their working groups. Principal topics of discussion were (1) legal issues from both the civil and criminal perspective, (2) emerging user requirements, and (3) technical and managerial approaches to resolving security problems. Although the meeting was limited to members of the Information Infrastructure Task Force and other Federal officials, it was agreed to provide opportunities for public input and involvement in the near future. The Government Information Working Group (GIWG) met on Thursday, February 24, 1994. The agenda included briefings on the pending conference on electronic media, Government legal information, the Directory of Government information dissemination activities, the Government Information Locator Service (GILS) profile, policy on Multiple User Domains, and the need for public participation. Conference on Electronic Media: The third conference on electronic media was held on Monday, April 4, 1994 at the Commerce Department Auditorium. Co-sponsored by the GIWG and NTIS (National Technical Information Service of the Department of Commerce), E-Media '94 demonstrated to Federal government employees how electronic media can improve Federal information dissemination to the public and otherwise benefit their agency missions. E-Media brought together Government program, technical, public affairs, and management staff to learn how electronic media such as the Internet, electronic mail, bulletin boards, and CD-ROM can be used to meet agencies' information dissemination needs. A fourth E-media conference is tentatively scheduled for June, 1994. Government Information Locator Service: A draft report describing the Government Information Locator Service (GILS) standard has been sent to the members of the IITF and the NIIAC (National Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee) for comment. GILS would supplement but not replace other commercial or agency information dissemination mechanisms by identifying public information resources throughout the Federal Government, describing these resources, and providing assistance in obtaining information. The public would be served by GILS directly or through intermediaries such as the Government Printing Office (GPO), the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Federal Depository Libraries, and other public libraries. On-line access to GILS would be via kiosks in malls, 800 numbers, electronic mail, bulletin boards, facsimile transmission, and through off-line media such as floppy disks, CD-ROM, and printed materials. GILS locator information would be accessible on public networks without charge to direct users. Government Legal Information: GIWG is planning a one-day workshop May 16, 1994, on the issue of how the availability of legal information from the Government to the public can be improved. Participants would include representatives from the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, state government, private sector stakeholders, and public interest groups. Privacy Working Group A revised Code of Fair Information Practices, updated for the electronic era, has completed an internal review and will be submitted to the members of the IITF for approval. Intellectual Property Rights Working Group Since January 1994, the Group has met weekly as it drafts a report of its findings and recommendations regarding the effect of the National Information Infrastructure on intellectual property rights. The report is scheduled for presentation to the Information Policy Committee in April. Schedule of Upcoming Public Events April 25: NII Advisory Council Meeting National Public Radio 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. April 27: Open Access Public Hearing Fuqua School of Business Duke University Durham, North Carolina 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (Co-sponsored by the Universal Service Working Group and NTIA) April 29: Committee on Applications and Technology 10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. National Institute of Standards and Technology May 13: Open Access Public Hearing Silicon Valley, California (Co-sponsored by the Universal Service Working Group and NTIA) This is the fifth 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. Information regarding the IITF Bulletin Board System (BBS) should be submitted to Charles Franz at NTIA either via e-mail (cfranz@ntia.doc.gov) or floppy disk in Word Perfect or ASCII formats. The IITF Bulletin Board 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. The Bulletin Board is accessible at 202/501-1920 using a personal computer and a telephone modem.