IP: FARNET's Washington Update

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

FARNET's Washington Update --- February 28, 1997


IN THIS ISSUE:


-  SENATOR BURNS REINTRODUCES "PRO-CODE" BILL


-  HPCC ADVISORY COMMITTEE HOLDS TWO-DAY MEETING TO DISCUSS GOALS
                    AND FUTURE ACTIVITIES


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^


SENATOR BURNS REINTRODUCES "PRO-CODE" BILL


Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) introduced his revamped "Promotion of Commerce
Online in the Digital Era Act of 1997" (Pro-CODE) bill to the Senate
yesterday.  The bill's aim, similar to that found in the Pro-CODE
legislation of 1996, is to ease but not eliminate the Clinton
Administration's export controls that, according to Senator Burns, "have
been used to hinder the development of stronger encryption technology."  In
addition, the bill strives to give Internet users a greater sense of
security and privacy online by giving them the ability to utilize
electronic data security products without government "backdoor features".
Although the bill is nearly identical to that introduced in the 104th
Congress, the most prominent change is the implementation of an Information
Security Board which would serve to "keep law enforcement abreast of
technology changes."  Pro-CODE is also being sponsored by Senator Leahy
(D-VT.), who is co-sponsoring an additional piece of legislation, the
"Encrypted Communications Privacy Act", with Senator Burns.  For additional
information see: http://www.senate.gov/~burns/crypto.htm




HPCC ADVISORY COMMITTEE HOLDS TWO-DAY MEETING TO DISCUSS GOALS AND FUTURE
ACTIVITIES


President Clinton's Advisory Committee on High-Performance Computing and
Communications (HPCC), Information Technology and the Next Generation
Internet met yesterday and today.  Members of the committee include:
co-chairs Bill Joy (Sun Microsystems) and Ken Kennedy (Rice University).
Other members include David Farber (U. Penn), Vinton Cerf (MCI), and Edward
Shortliffe (Stanford School of Medicine).


The HPCC Advisory Committee was established in February by an executive
order of the President.  The Committee is tasked with advising the National
Science and Technology Council (which reports to the White House Office of
Science & Technology Policy) about the direction of both the HPCC program
and the NGI initiative.


The HPCC program itself has been renamed the "Computing, Information, and
Communications R&D" program (CIC R&D).  With that change comes a whole new
alphabet soup.  The HPCCIT becomes the CIC R&D Subcommittee, the National
Coordinating Office for HPCC becomes the NCO for CIC.  In addition, the CIC
R&D Program has been organized into five component areas (much like the
HPCC program):  High End Computing and Computation (HECC), Large Scale
Networking (LSN), High Confidence Systems (HCS), Human Centered Systems
(HuCS), Education, Training, and Human Resources (ETHR).  LSN co-chairs are
George Strawn (NSF) and Dave Nelson (DOE).  The LSN will focus on R&D that
advances the leading edge of networking technologies and services.


The first order of business for the Advisory Committee will be advising the
administration on the NGI initiative.  The Committee decided to endorse the
statement regarding NGI made by the President in his State of the Union
address -- "We must build the second generation of the Internet ...in
speeds 1,000 times faster than today..."  The committee's role would be to
examine and advise where possible roadblocks to achieving that goal might
be.  The Advisory Committee was to meet with Vice President Al Gore later
this afternoon.


More information on the Advisory Committee and the CIC R&D program can be
found at: http://www.hpcc.gov


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^
Written from FARNET's Washington office, "FARNET's Washington Update" is a
service to FARNET members and other interested subscribers.  We gratefully
acknowledge EDUCOM's NTTF and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
for
additional support.  If you would like more information about the Update or
would like to offer comments or suggestions, please contact Heather Boyles
at heather () farnet org.




_____________________________________________________________________________
             Krystal Bullers, Publications Coordinator, Educom
          1112 16th Street, NW * Suite 600 * Washington, DC  20036
        (202) 872-4200 * kbullers () educom edu * http://www.educom.edu
____________________________________________________________________________
_