The Gorecard

No question, Al Gore has been a prominent voice in technology debates, but what's he saying? Examine his record as a senator and as vice president, and you find a mix of geek, ecommerce booster, and big-government nanny. This year Gore helped deliver $700 million to wire public schools and rallied against slapping a federal tax on your monthly Internet dialup bill. But he also rode shotgun for an adminstration that long resisted loosening the reins on cryptography exportation and instituted sweeping legislation controlling what can and cannot be said online.

- Kristin Demos

High-Performance Computing and Communications Act (1991) Before major political figures, or even most everyday people, cared about the Net, then-Senator Gore pushed the development of a first-of-its-kind high-bandwidth network intended to carry 3-D graphic images and large data files generated by supercomputers. Three billion dollars flooded the program, and by 1996 the National Research and Education Network was able to transfer 1 gigabyte of data. NREN is a web of federal networks that exists as part of what is now known as the Internet. After appropriations ran out in 1996, the 1998 Next-Generation Internet Research Act was signed into law to update HPCC and authorize additional funds to build a terabyte-capable network for governmental and academic research and technology development.

Clipper Chip (1993) As vice president, Gore was originally for the Clipper Chip - a device installed in phones, faxes, and modems to encrypt voice and data. Billed as a way for businesses to protect proprietary information and safeguard personal conversations, the proposal also put the decryption keys in the hands of the government. It was stymied by opposition from civil-liberties groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology, which balked at the institutionalization of governmental access to encrypted communications without the consent or knowledge of the sender. Gore retreated from his stance and supported reworking the legislation (Clipper II, Clipper III), but ultimately no chip has ever been enforced.

Telecommunications Act (1996) The many faces of Al were evidenced in three controversial pieces of legislation embedded in the Telecom Act. First, the civil libertarian: He opposed the Communications Decency Act and its criminalization of posting material deemed "patently offensive" or "indecent" for minors online. The CDA was later struck down by the US Supreme Court as unconstitutional and a threat to free speech. Next, the nanny: He supported the mandatory installation of a chip in TVs so parents can block programs deemed inappropriate because of excessive violence. Effective January 1, 2000, all newly manufactured TV sets 13 inches or larger will have an embedded V-chip. Finally, he supported the E-rate (dubbed the "Goretax"), which collects up to $2.5 billion annually from the telcos to pay to wire schools and libraries to the Internet.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) As murmurs from the Recording Industry Association of America and others rose regarding renegade downloading of copyrighted material and global theft of intellectual property, Gore rallied behind a radical upgrade of copyright laws for the digital era. The law increased the length of copyright protection for the copyright holder another 20 years, made it a crime to create or sell technology that could be used to break copyright-protection devices, and implemented international treaties signed at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Critics attacked the law because it made online service providers liable when users infringe on a copyright - rather than the users themselves, who can be difficult to trace.

Child Online Protection Act (1998) Gore watched in silence as the president signed COPA, which made it a federal crime for commercial Web sites to post material deemed "harmful to minors," including distributing any picture, writing, or recording that "lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors." Gore also personally backed the launch of GetNetWise, a resource site for parents offering downloadable filtering and blocking software. A case against COPA - brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the ACLU, and other organizations - is now pending before the US Court of Appeals, and enforcement of COPA has been enjoined. Critics argue that COPA compromises free speech just as the CDA did and will suffer the same fate.

Internet Tax Freedom Act (1998) To spur further commercial development of the Internet, the law placed a three-year moratorium on levying any federal, state, or local taxes on Internet-access fees or ecommerce transactions, both domestic and international. Despite backing government regulation of online content, Gore convinced Clinton to oppose the National Governors Association and support a hands-off approach regarding Internet taxation.

