Al Gore and information technology

Al Gore is the former Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), the 2000 Democratic Party presidential nominee, and the co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He has been involved with the development of the Internet since the 1970s.

Congressional work and Gore Bill

Gore had been involved with computers since the 1970s, first as a Congressman and later as Senator and Vice President, where he was a "genuine nerd, with a geek reputation running back to his days as a futurist "Atari Democrat" in the House. Before computers were comprehensible, let alone sexy, the poker-faced Gore struggled to explain artificial intelligence and fiber-optic networks to sleepy colleagues."cite web
url=http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1998/01/9939
title=A Man, a Plan, a Challenge
accessdate= 2008-06-28
author=
last= Miles
first=Sarah
authorlink=
coauthors=
date= January 30, 1998
work=
publisher= "Wired"] According to Campbell-Kelly and Aspray ('), up until the early 1990s public usage of the Internet was limited and the "problem of giving ordinary Americans network access had exercised Senator Al Gore since the late 1970s." [Campbell-Kelly and Aspray (1996).'. New York: BasicBooks, 298 ]

Of Gore's involvement in the then-developing Internet while in Congress, Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn have also noted that,

quote|As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship [...] the Internet, as we know it today, was not deployed until 1983. When the Internet was still in the early stages of its deployment, Congressman Gore providedintellectual leadership by helping create the vision of the potentialbenefits of high speed computing and communication. As an example, he sponsored hearings on how advanced technologies might be put to use in areas like coordinating the response of government agencies to natural disasters and other crises. [Citation

last1 = Kahn| first1 = Bob
author1-link =
last2 = Cerf| first2 = Vint
last3 = | first3 =
last4 = et al. | first4 =
title = Al Gore and the Internet
date = 2000-09-29
year = 2000
url = http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0009/msg00311.html
access-date = 2007-06-02 ]

As a Senator, Gore began to craft the "High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991" (commonly referred to as "The Gore Bill" [cite news | first=| last=| url=http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/internet_history_90s.shtml| title=Computher History Museum Exhibits:1991| work=computerhistory.org|publisher=Computer History Museum| date=| accessdate=2007-06-01] ) after hearing the 1988 report "Toward a National Research Network" [Citation
last1 = Kleinrock | first1 = Leonard
author1-link =
last2 = Kahn | first2 = Bob
last3 = Clark | first3 = David
last4 = et al. | first4 =
title = Toward a National Research Network
date = 1988
year = 1988
url = http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=NI000393
access-date = 2007-06-01 ] submitted to Congress by a group chaired by UCLA professor of computer science, Leonard Kleinrock, one of the central creators of the ARPANET (the ARPANET, first deployed by Kleinrock and others in 1969, is the predecessor of the Internet). [Citation
last1 = Kleinrock | first1 = Leonard
author1-link =
last2 = Cerf | first2 = Vint
last3 = Kahn | first3 = Bob
last4 = et al. | first4 =
title = A Brief History of the Internet
date = 2003-12-10
year = 2003
url = http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Transition
access-date = 2007-06-01 ]

Indeed, Kleinrock would later credit both Gore and "The Gore Bill" ("High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991") as a critical moment in Internet history:

The bill was passed on Dec. 9, 1991 and led to the National Information Infrastructure (NII) [Citation
first =Gary
last =Chapman
author-link =
first2 =Marc
last2 =Rotenberg
author2-link =
editor-last =Johnson
editor-first = Deborah G.
editor2-last =Nissanbaum
editor2-first =Helen
contribution =
contribution-url =
title =Computers, Ethics, & Social Values
year =1995
pages = 628-644
place = Englewood Cliffs
publisher =Prentice Hall
url = [http://www.cpsr.org/prevsite/publications/newsletters/old/1990s/Summer1993.txt The National Information Infrastructure:A Public Interest Opportunity]
doi =
id = ] which Gore referred to as the "information superhighway". President George H. W. Bush predicted that the bill would help "unlock the secrets of DNA," open up foreign markets to free trade, and a promise of cooperation between government, academia, and industry. [cite news | first=George H.W.| last=Bush| url=http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=3723&year=1991&month=12| title= Remarks on Signing the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 | work=bushlibrary.tamu.edu|publisher=George Bush Presidential Library| date=1991-12-09| accessdate=2008-01-16]

Text of the bill can be found here. [ [http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d102:SN00272:@@@L&summ2=m& Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress) ] ]

Prior to its passage, Gore discussed the basics of the bill in an article for the September 1991 issue of "Scientific American" entitled '. His essay, "Infrastructure for the Global Village", commented on the lack of network access described above and argued: "Rather than holding back, the U.S. should lead by building the information infrastructure, essential if all Americans are to gain access to this transforming technology" [ Gore, Al (1991). "Infrastructure for the Global Village"', 150 ] [...] "high speed networks must be built that tie together millions of computers, providing capabilities that we cannot even imagine." [ Gore, Al (1991). "Infrastructure for the Global Village" "", 152 ]

Mosaic

Perhaps one of the most important results of the Gore Bill was the development of Mosaic in 1993. [cite news | first=| last=| url=http://www.totic.org/nscp/demodoc/demo.html| title=NCSA Mosaic -- September 10, 1993 Demo| work=totic.org|publisher=| date=1993-09-10| accessdate=2007-06-01] [cite news | first=| last=| url=http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_mosaic.htm| title=Mosaic -- The First Global Web Browser| work=livinginternet.com|publisher=| date=| accessdate=2007-06-01] This World Wide Web browser is credited by most scholars as beginning the Internet boom of the 1990s:

:Gore's legislation also helped fund the "National Center for Supercomputing Applications" at the University of Illinois, where a team of programmers, including Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, created the Mosaic Web browser, the commercial Internet's technological springboard. 'If it had been left to private industry, it wouldn't have happened,' Andreessen says of Gore's bill, 'at least, not until years later.' [cite news | first=Keith| last=Perine| url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HWW/is_43_3/ai_66672985/print| title=The Early Adopter - Al Gore and the Internet - Government Activity| work=findarticles.com|publisher=The Industry Standard| date=2000-10-23| accessdate=2007-06-01]

Vice President and Information Superhighway

Early projects

As Vice President, Gore promoted the development of what he referred to as the "Information Superhighway". This was discussed in detail a few days after winning the election in November 1992 in the "The New York Times" article "Clinton to Promote High Technology, With Gore in Charge."Citation
first =William
last =Broad
author-link =
first2 =
last2 =
author2-link =
editor-last =
editor-first =
editor2-last =
editor2-first =
contribution =
contribution-url =
title = Clinton to Promote High Technology, With Gore in Charge
year =November 10, 1992
pages =
place =
publisher ="New York Times"
url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DD1130F933A25752C1A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
doi =
id =] They planned to finance research that "that will flood the economy with innovative goods and services, lifting the general level of prosperity and strengthening American industry." Specifically, they were aiming to fund the development of, "robotics, smart roads, biotechnology, machine tools, magnetic-levitation trains, fiber-optic communications and national computer networks. Also earmarked are a raft of basic technologies like digital imaging and data storage." These initiatives were met with some skepticism from critics who claimed that, "the initiative is likely to backfire, bloating Congressional pork and creating whole new categories of Federal waste." These initiatives were outlined in the report, "Technology for America's Economic Growth". [Citation
last1 = Clinton | first1 = William
author1-link =
last2 = Gore | first2 = Al
last3 = | first3 =
last4 = et al. | first4 =
title = Technology for America's Economic Growth
date = 1993-02-22
year = 1993
url = http://www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/JPODOCS/BRIEFING/7423.pdf
access-date = 2007-06-01 ] In September 1993, they released a report calling for the creation of a "nationwide information superhighway" which would primarily be built by private industry.Citation
first =Edmund
last =Andrews
author-link =
first2 =
last2 =
author2-link =
editor-last =
editor-first =
editor2-last =
editor2-first =
contribution =
contribution-url =
title = BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Policy Blueprint Ready For Data Superhighway
year =September 15, 1993
pages =
place =
publisher ="The New York Times"
url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DE133BF936A2575AC0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
doi =
id =] Gary Stix commented on these initiatives a few months prior in his May 1993 article for "Scientific American", "Gigabit Gestalt: Clinton and Gore embrace an activist technology policy." Stix described them as a "distinct statement about where the new administration stands on the matter of technology [...] gone is the ambivalence or outright hostility toward government involvement in little beyond basic science." [Citation
last = Stix
first = Gary
author-link =
title = [http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=83F1AFDF-DFDF-429F-B420-10D25322587 Gigabit Gestalt: Clinton and Gore embrace an activist technology policy]
journal = Scientific American
volume =
pages = 122-126
date = May 1993
year = 1993 ] Campbell-Kelly and Aspray further note in "Computer: A History of the Information Machine":

: In the early 1990s the Internet was big news.... In the fall of 1990 there were just 313,000 computers on the Internet; by 1996, there were close to 10 million. The networking idea became politicized during the 1992 Clinton-Gore election campaign, where the rhetoric of the information highway captured the public imagination. On taking office in 1993, the new administration set in place a range of government initiatives for a "National Information Infrastructure" aimed at ensuring that all American citizens ultimately gain access to the new networks. [Campbell-Kelly and Aspray (1996). "". New York: BasicBooks, 283 ]

These initiatives were discussed in a number of venues. Howard Rheingold argued in the 1994 afterword to his noted text, "The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier," that these initiatives played a critical role in the development of digital technology, stating that, "Two powerful forces drove the rapid emergence of the superhighway notion in 1994 [...] the second driving force behind the superhighway idea continued to be Vice-President Gore."Citation
last = Rheingold
first = Howard
author-link =
title = Afterword to the 1994 Edition
journal = The Virtual Community
volume =
pages = 395
date =
year = 2000] In addition, Clinton and Gore submitted the report, "Science in the National Interest" in 1994, [Citation
last1 = Clinton | first1 = William
author1-link =
last2 = Gore | first2 = Al
last3 = | first3 =
last4 = et al. | first4 =
title = Science in The National Interest
date = August 1994
year = 1994
url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/13/50/fe.pdf
access-date = 2008-01-16 ] which further outlined their plans to develop science and technology in the United States. Gore also discussed these plans in speeches that he made at The Superhighway Summit [cite news | first=Al| last=Gore| url=http://www.clintonfoundation.org/legacy/011194-remarks-by-the-vp-on-television.htm| title=Remarks as Delivered by Vice President Al Gore to The Superhighway Summit, Royce Hall, UCLA| work=clintonfoundation.org|publisher=| date=1994-01-11| accessdate=2007-06-01] at UCLA and for the International Telecommunications Union. [cite news | first=Al| last=Gore| url=http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/EOP/OVP/html/telunion.html| title=Remarks As Delivered by Vice President Al Gore at the International Telecommunications Union| work=clinton1.nara.gov|publisher=| date=1994-03-21| accessdate=2007-06-01]

On January 13, 1994 Gore "became the first U.S. vice president to hold a live interactive news conference on an international computer network". [cite news | first=Al| last=Gore| url=http://www.clintonfoundation.org/legacy/011394-press-release-on-vp-online-conferencing.htm| title=The CompuServe Information Service: Transcript of Vice President Al Gore in Convention Center| work=clintonfoundation.org|publisher=| date=1994-01-13| accessdate=2007-06-01] Gore was also asked to write the foreword to the 1994 internet guide, [http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/editinc/top.htm "The Internet Companion: A Beginner’s Guide to Global Networking" (2nd edition)] by Tracy LaQuey. In the foreword he stated the following:

:Since I first became interested in high-speed networking almost seventeen years ago, there have been many major advances both in the technology and in public awareness. Articles on high-speed networks are commonplace in major newspapers and in news magazines. In contrast, when as a House member in the early 1980's, I called for creation of a national network of "information superhighways," the only people interested were the manufacturers of optical fiber. Back then, of course, high-speed meant 56,000 bits per second. Today we are building a national information infrastructure that will carry billions of bits of data per second, serve thousands of users simultaneously, and transmit not only electronic mail and data files but voice and video as well. [cite news | first=Al| last=Gore| url=http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/editinc/foreword.htm#Top| title=Foreword by Vice President Al Gore to The Internet Companion| work=|publisher=| year=1994| accessdate=2007-06-07]

The Clinton-Gore administration launched the first official White House website on 21 October 1994. [cite news | first=| last=| url=http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/html/White_House_Home.html
title=Welcome to the White House| work=|publisher=| date| accessdate=2007-06-06] [cite news | first=| last=| url=http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201b.htm
title=The Clinton White House Web Site:Part 2: Preserving the Clinton White House Web site| work=|publisher=| date| accessdate=2007-06-06] It would be followed by three more versions, resulting in the final edition launched in 2000. [cite news | first=| last=| url=http://clinton5.nara.gov/index.html| title=Welcome to the White House| work=|publisher=| date| accessdate=2007-06-06] [cite news | first=| last=| url=http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201b.htm
title=The Clinton White House Web Site:Part 2: Preserving the Clinton White House Web site| work=|publisher=| date| accessdate=2007-06-06] The White House website was part of a general movement by this administration towards web based communication: "Clinton and Gore were responsible for pressing almost all federal agencies, the U.S. court system and the U.S. military onto the Internet, thus opening up America's government to more of America's citizens than ever before. On 17 July, 1996. President Clinton issued Executive Order 13011 - Federal Information Technology, ordering the heads of all federal agencies to fully utilize information technology to make the information of the agency easily accessible to the public." [cite news | first=| last=| url=http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201a.htm
title=The Clinton White House Web Site:Part 1: Perhaps the most important Web site in American history| work=|publisher=| date| accessdate=2007-06-06]

Clipper Chip

The Clipper Chip, which "Clinton inherited from a multi-year National Security Agency effort,"Citation
last = Rheingold
first = Howard
author-link =
title = Afterword to the 1994 Edition
journal = The Virtual Community
volume =
pages = 398-399
date =
year = 2000] was a method of hardware encryption with a government backdoor. In 1994, Vice President Gore issued a memo on the topic of encryption which stated that under a new policy the White House would "provide better encryption to individuals and businesses while ensuring that the needs of law enforcement and national security are met. Encryption is a law and order issue since it can be used by criminals to thwart wiretaps and avoid detection and prosecution." [ [http://www.epic.org/crypto/clipper/gore_statement_feb_94.html STATEMENT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT] ]

Another initiative proposed a software-based key escrow system, in which keys to all encrypted data and communications would reside with a trusted third party. Since the government was seen as possibly having a need to access encrypted data originating in other countries, the pressure to establish such a system was worldwide. [ [http://www.epic.org/crypto/key_escrow/wh_cke_796.html Commercial Policy] ]

These policies met with strong opposition from civil liberty groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, scientific groups such as the National Research Council, [ [http://www.epic.org/crypto/reports/nrc_release.html Press release] ] leading cryptographers, [ [http://www.cdt.org/crypto/risks98/ The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow, & Trusted Third Party Encryption] ] and the European Commission. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E2DA173CF93AA35753C1A961958260 "Europeans Reject U.S. Plan On Electronic Cryptography"] ] All three Clipper Chip initiatives thus failed to gain widespread acceptance by consumers or support from the industry. [ [http://www.epic.org/crypto/clipper/ The Clipper Chip] ] The ability of a proposal such as the Clipper Chip to meet the stated goals, especially that of enabling better encryption to individuals, was disputed by a number of experts. [ [http://www.epic.org/crypto/clipper/crypto_experts_letter_1_94.html Crypto Experts Letter] ]

By 1996, the Clipper Chip was abandoned. [ [http://www.reason.com/news/show/27700.html Rendering Unto CESA] ]

Additional projects

Gore had discussed his concerns with computer technology and levels of access in his 1994 article, "No More Information Have and Have Nots." He was particularly interested in implementing measures which would grant all children access to the Internet, stating:

quote|We've got to get it right. We must make sure that all children have access. We have to make sure that the children of Anacostia have that access, not just Bethesda; Watts, not just Brentwood; Chicago's West Side, not just Evanston. That's not the case now. Twenty-two percent of white primary-school students have computers in their homes; less than 7% of African-American children do. We can't create a nation of information haves and have-nots. The on-ramps to the information superhighway must be accessible to all, and that will only happen if the telecommunications industry is accessible to all.cite web
url=http://192.211.16.13/curricular/Tacoma/info1.htm
title=NO MORE INFORMATION HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS
accessdate= 2008-06-12
author=
last=Gore
first=Al
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=1994-10-22
work=
publisher= Billboard]

Gore had a chance to fulfill this promise when he and President Clinton participated in John Gage's NetDay'96 on March 9, 1996. Clinton and Gore spent the day at Ygnacio Valley High School, as part of the drive to connect California public schools to the Internet.cite web
url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1996/03/09/MN59762.DTL
title=Clinton, Gore in Concord Today for NetDay: 20,000 volunteers wire computers at California schools
accessdate= 2008-06-12
author=
last=Rubenstein
first=Steve
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=1996-03-09
work=
publisher= "San Francisco Chronicle"] In a speech given at YVH, Clinton stated that he was excited to see that his challenge the previous September to "Californians to connect at least 20 percent of your schools to the Information Superhighway by the end of this school year" was met. Clinton also described this event as part of a time of "absolutely astonishing transformation; a moment of great possibility. All of you know that the information and technology explosion will offer to you and to the young people of the future more opportunities and challenges than any generation of Americans has ever seen."cite web
url=http://www.clintonfoundation.org/legacy/030996-speech-by-president-at-netday-concord-ca.htm
title=Remarks by the President to the Concord Community on NetDay: Ygnacio Valley High School, Concord, California
accessdate= 2008-06-12
author=
last= Clinton
first=Bill
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=
work=
publisher= Clinton Foundation] In a prepared statement, Gore added that NetDay was part of one of the major goals of the Clinton administration, which was "to give every child in America access to high quality educational technology by the dawn of the new century." Gore also stated that the administration planned "to connect every classroom to the Internet by the year 2000."cite web
url=http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/New/NetDay/Video/statement.html
title=Statement by the Vice President about Netday
accessdate= 2008-06-12
author=
last=Gore
first= Al
authorlink=
coauthors=
year=1997
work=
publisher= ] On April 28, 1998, Gore honored numerous volunteers who had been involved with NetDay and "who helped connect students to the Internet in 700 of the poorest schools in the country" via "an interactive online session with children across the country."cite web
url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_puca/is_199804/ai_1702147294
title=GORE, RILEY AND KENNARD HONOR NETDAY VOLUNTEERS ANNOUNCE GUIDE TO ONLINE MENTORING, COMPUTER DONATIONS
accessdate= 2008-06-12
author= Press Release
last=
first=
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=1998-04-28
work=
publisher= ]

He also reinforced the impact of the Internet on the environment, education, and increased communication between people through his involvement with "the largest one-day online event" for that time, "24 Hours in Cyberspace." The event took place on 8 February 1996 and Second Lady Tipper Gore also participated, acting as one of the event's 150 photographers. [ [http://undertow.arch.gatech.edu/homepages/virtualopera/cyber24/SITE/HTM2/4_311.htm Picture This:Tipper Gore, Photojournalist] ] Gore contributed the introductory essay to the "Earthwatch" section of the website, [ [http://undertow.arch.gatech.edu/Homepages/virtualopera/cyber24/SITE/htm3/tocear.htm Earthwatch: 24 Hours in Cyberspace] ] arguing that:

Gore was involved in a number of other projects related to digital technology. He expressed his concerns for online privacy through his 1998 "Electronic Bill of Rights" speech in which he stated: "We need an electronic bill of rights for this electronic age [...] You should have the right to choose whether your personal information is disclosed." [ [http://www.techlawjournal.com/privacy/80731gorepr.htm VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES NEW STEPS TOWARD AN ELECTRONIC BILL OF RIGHTS] ] He also began promoting a NASA satellite that would provide a constant view of Earth, marking the first time such an image would have been made since The Blue Marble photo from the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. The "Triana" satellite would have been permanently mounted in the L₁ Lagrangian Point, 1.5 million km away. [ cite web|url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/03/980317071006.htm |title=Earth-Viewing Satellite Would Focus On Educational, Scientific Benefits|accessdate=2007-02-25 |work=Science Daily] Gore also became associated with Digital Earth. [ cite web |url = http://www.isde5.org/history.htm |title = Digital Earth History |work = The 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth]

1999 CNN interview controversy

There was talk of a potential run in the 2000 presidential race by Gore as early as January 1998.cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/clinton_scandal/51093.stm
title=Al Gore: Waiting in the wings
accessdate= 2008-07-03
author=
last=
first=
authorlink=
coauthors=
date= Jan. 27, 1998
work=
publisher= BBC ] Gore discussed the possibility of running during a March 9, 1999 interview with CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer". In response to Wolf Blitzer's question: "Why should Democrats, looking at the Democratic nomination process, support you instead of Bill Bradley?", Gore responded:

:I'll be offering my vision when my campaign begins. And it will be comprehensive and sweeping. And I hope that it will be compelling enough to draw people toward it. I feel that it will be. But it will emerge from my dialogue with the American people. I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system. cite news | first=| last=| url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/president.2000/transcript.gore/| title=Transcript: Vice President Gore on CNN's 'Late Edition'| work=CNN|publisher=CNN| date=1999-03-09| accessdate=2008-08-22]

UCLA professor of information studies, Philip E. Agre and journalist Eric Boehlert argued that three articles in "Wired News" led to the creation of the widely spread urban legend that Gore claimed to have "invented the Internet," which followed this interview. [cite news | first=Philip| last=Agre| url=http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/~goguen/courses/275f00/invented.html| title=Who Invented "Invented"?:Tracing the Real Story of the "Al Gore Invented the Internet" Hoax| work=|publisher=UCSD| date=2000-10-17| accessdate=2008-08-22] cite web
url=http://archive.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2000/10/05/gore_internet/print.html
title=Did Gore invent the Internet?
accessdate= 2008-08-22
author=
last=Rosenberg
first=Scott
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=October 5, 2000
work=
publisher= Salon.com] [cite news | first=Eric| | last=Boehlert| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-boehlert/wired-owes-al-gore-an-apo_b_19980.html| title=Wired Owes Al Gore an Apology| work=huffingtonpost.com|publisher=huffingtonpost.com| date=April 26, 2008| accessdate=2007-06-02] In addition, computer professionals and congressional colleagues argued in his defense. Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn stated that "we don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he 'invented' the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet."cite web
url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/
title= Al Gore and the Internet
accessdate= 2008-08-22
author=
last=
first=
authorlink=
coauthors=Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf
date= October 2, 2000
work=
publisher="The Register"] Cerf would also later state: "Al Gore had seen what happened with the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which his father introduced as a military bill. It was very powerful. Housing went up, suburban boom happened, everybody became mobile. Al was attuned to the power of networking much more than any of his elective colleagues. His initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet. So he really does deserve credit."cite web
url=http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/vint-cerf-0508?click=pp
title=What I've Learned: Vint Cerf, Creator of the Internet, 64, McLean, Virginia
accessdate= 2008-08-23
author=
last=Fussman
first=Cal
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=April 24, 2008
work=
publisher= "Esquire"]

Former Republican Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich also stated: "In all fairness, it's something Gore had worked on a long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in all fairness, Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet, and the truth is -- and I worked with him starting in 1978 when I got [to Congress] , we were both part of a "futures group" -- the fact is, in the Clinton administration, the world we had talked about in the '80s began to actually happen."cite web
url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200705230008
title=Kurtz faulted media for depicting Gore as "exaggerator" but omitted his own role
accessdate=2008-07-05
author=
last=
first=
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=May 23, 2007
work=
publisher= "Media Matters for America"] Finally, Wolf Blitzer (who conducted the original 1999 interview) stated in 2008 that: "I didn't ask him about the Internet. I asked him about the differences he had with Bill Bradley [...] Honestly, at the time, when he said it, it didn't dawn on me that this was going to have the impact that it wound up having, because it was distorted to a certain degree and people said they took what he said, which was a carefully phrased comment about taking the initiative and creating the Internet to -- I invented the Internet. And that was the sort of shorthand, the way his enemies projected it and it wound up being a devastating setback to him and it hurt him, as I'm sure he acknowledges to this very day."cite web
url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/06/le.01.html
title=CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER: 10th Anniversary Special
accessdate= 2008-07-06
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date=July 6, 2008
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publisher= "CNN"]

Gore, himself, would later poke fun at the controversy. In 2000, while on the "The Late Show with David Letterman" he read "Letterman's Top 10 List" (which for this show was called, "Top Ten Rejected Gore - Lieberman Campaign Slogans") to the audience. Number nine on the list was: "Remember, America, I gave you the Internet, and I can take it away!" [cite news |first=|last=|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/09/14/politics/main233560.shtml|title=Gore Does Dave|work=cbsnews.com|publisher=cbsnews.com|date=2000-09-14|accessdate=2007-06-02] A few years later in 2005, when Gore was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award" "for three decades of contributions to the Internet" at the "Webby Awards"cite web
url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-05-04-gore-webby_x.htm
title=Webby Awards not laughing at Gore's contribution to Net Former Vice President of the United States
accessdate=2008-06-15
author= A.P.
last=
first=
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=May 5, 2005
work=
publisher= "USA Today"] cite web
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/arts/08webb.html
title=Accepting a Webby? Brevity, Please
accessdate=2008-06-15
author=
last= Carr
first=David
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=June 8, 2005
work=
publisher= American Broadcasting Company] he joked in his acceptance speech (limited to five words according to "Webby Awards" rules): "Please don't recount this vote." He was introduced by Vint Cerf who used the same format to joke: "We all invented the Internet." Gore, who was then asked to add a few more words to his speech, stated: "It is time to reinvent the Internet for all of us to make it more robust and much more accessible and use it to reinvigorate our democracy."cite web
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/arts/08webb.html
title=Accepting a Webby? Brevity, Please
accessdate=2008-06-15
author=
last= Carr
first=David
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=8 June 2005|
work=
publisher= American Broadcasting Company]

Post-Vice Presidency

Gore continued his involvement with the computer industry and new technologies after he left the White House in 2001. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Google.cite web
url=http://www.algore.com/about.html
title=Al's Bio
accessdate= 2008-06-13
author=
last=Gore
first= Al
authorlink=
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date=
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publisher= ]

Emmy and Current TV

On May 4, 2004, INdTV Holdings, a company co-founded by Gore and Joel Hyatt, purchased cable news channel NewsWorld International from Vivendi Universal. The new network would not "be a liberal network, a Democratic network or a political network", Gore said, but would serve as an "independent voice" for a target audience of people between 18 and 34 "who want to learn about the world in a voice they recognize and a view they recognize as their own." [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/04/entertainment/main615523.shtml "Al Gore Buying Int'l News Channel"] . "CBS News". May 4, 2005.]

The network was relaunched under the name Current TV on August 1, 2005. On September 16, 2007, Current TV won the "Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television" award at the 2007 Primetime Emmys [ [http://www.emmys.tv/downloads/2007/pte59emmywinners.pdf 59th Primetime Emmy Awards] ] for its use of online technologies with television. In his acceptance speech, Gore stated, "we are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help to make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make. More to come. Current.com. Next month." [ [http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/16/al-gore-wins-emmy-for-current-tv/ 2007 Primetime Emmys Acceptance Speech] ]

The Assault on Reason

Gore's 2007 book, "The Assault on Reason", is an analysis of what he calls the "emptying out of the marketplace of ideas" in civic discourse, which, according to Gore, is due to the influence of electronic media, especially television, and which endangers American democracy; but he also expresses the belief that the Internet can revitalize and ultimately "redeem the integrity of representative democracy." [ Gore, Al. "The Assault on Reason" (New York: Penguin Press, 2007): 270 ]

elected honors and awards

*1993 First Annual Cisco Systems Circle Award: "In recognition of his visionary leadership in building global awareness of computer networking through the National Information Highway Initiative."Citation
first =
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title =Vice President Albert Gore Accepts Cisco Circle Award
year =June 23, 1993
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url =http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/1993/corp_062393.html
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*1998 The Computerworld Honors Program Honoring Those Who Use Information Technology to Benefit Society: "Toshiba America Leadership Award for Education" [ [http://www.cwhonors.org/leadership/indexpast.html The Computerworld Honors Program: Honoring Those Who Use Information Technology to Benefit Society] ]
*2005 Webby Award: "Lifetime Achievement Award" (interactive technology)
*2007 Quill Awards: History/current events/politics, "The Assault on Reason"
*2007 International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences: "Founders Award" for "Current TV" and for work in the area of global warming [ [http://www.iemmys.tv/news_item.aspx?id=45 2007 Awards for the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences] ]
*2007 Primetime Emmy Award: "Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television" for "Current TV" (interactive technology)

elected publications

; Books, forwards, and other publications
*
*" [http://books.google.com/books?id=h6apRM5pnbcC&dq=gore+brown+the+global+information+infrastructure+agenda+for+cooperation&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=9LYraVbN8X&sig=h7FCT0JrxoBUTK_24Dah3-1zjy4|Global Agenda for Cooperation:Global Information Infrastructure] " Diane Publishing, February, 1995 (with Ronald H. Brown).
* " [http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/editinc/foreword.htm#Top Foreword by Vice President Al Gore] ." In " [http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/editinc/ The Internet Companion:A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking (2nd edition)] " by Tracy LaQuey, 1994.
* " [http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/13/50/fe.pdf Science in the National Interest] ." Washington, DC: The White House, August 1994 (with William Clinton).
* " [http://www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/JPODOCS/BRIEFING/7423.pdf Technology for America’s economic growth, a new direction to build economic strength] ." Washington, DC: The White House, February 22, 1993 (with William Clinton).
* [http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/15/3c/ea.pdf "Foreword," and "Prepared Remarks"] in "Delivering Electronic Information in a Knowledge - Based Democracy. Summary of Proceedings." (Washington D.C., July 14, 1993).

; Articles, reports, and speeches
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_7_20/ai_55030840 The Tenth Annual Discover Awards - U.S. government wants to focus on information technology research in 21st century] , "Discover", July 1999.
*"Technology Proficient Teachers." (Transcript)" Presidents & Prime Ministers", July 1999.
* " [http://books.google.com/books?id=uS3lW0I3jXoC&dq=Gore Access America: Reengineering Through Information Technology] ". Report of the National Performance Review and the Government Information Technology Services Board, 1997.
* " [http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0996/ijge/foc1.htm Basic Principles for Building an Information Society] ." "USIA Electronic Journals", Vol. 1, No. 12, September 1996.
* " [http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/other/v9n1p1.html Bringing Information to the World: The Global Information Infrastructure] ." "Harvard Journal of Law and Technology" 9, 1 (Winter 1996).
* " [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/272/5259/177 The Metaphor of Distributed Intelligence] ." "Science", VOl 272 12 April, 1996: 177–80.
* [http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/lazowska/faculty.lecture/innovation/gore.html The Technology Challenge: How Can America Spark Private Innovation? by Vice President Al Gore,University of Pennsylvania, February 14, 1996]
* " [http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/html/vp-aaas.html The Technology Challenge: What is the Role of Science in American Society?] ", Prepared Remarks of Vice President Al Gore. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Baltimore, MD. February 12, 1996
* [http://undertow.arch.gatech.edu/Homepages/virtualopera/cyber24/SITE/essay/gore.htm Vice President Al Gore's introduction to "Earthwatch: 24 Hours In Cyberspace] . February 8, 1996. "24 Hours in Cyberspace"
* [http://csdl2.computer.org/persagen/DLAbsToc.jsp?resourcePath=/dl/mags/co/&toc=comp/mags/co/1994/12/rztoc.xml&DOI=10.1109/2.335728 "Innovation delayed is innovation denied] ," "Computer", vol. 27, no. 12, December, 1994: 45–47.
* " [http://192.211.16.13/curricular/Tacoma/info1.htm No more information haves and have-nots] ", "Billboard",Vol. 106 Issue 43, October 22, 1994: 6.
* [http://discovermagazine.com/1994/oct/1994discoverawar431/?searchterm=Gore,%20Al 1994 Discover Awards: Introduction] , "Discover", October, 1994.
* [http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/EOP/OVP/html/telunion.html Remarks As Delivered by Vice President Al Gore at the International Telecommunications Union, Monday, March 21, 1994]
* "We're all going to be connected (Letter to the editor)." "Wall Street Journal," 28 February 1994: A15.
* [http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/EOP/OVP/other/superhig.html Remarks as Delivered by Vice President Al Gore to The Superhighway Summit, Royce Hall, UCLA, January 11, 1994] - The Superhighway Summit
* "The Role of Networking." "Communications Week", January 3, 1994: 17.
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/nii/goremarks.html Remarks on the National Information Infrastructure by Vice President Al Gore at the National Press club, December 21, 1993]
* [http://discovermagazine.com/1993/oct/1993discoverawar276/?searchterm=Gore,%20Al 1993 Discover Awards: Introduction] , "Discover", October, 1993.
* "Infrastructure for the global village: computers, networks and public policy." "Scientific American Special Issue on Communications, Computers, and Networks," September 1991. 265(3): 150–153.
* " [http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/internet-technology/150025-1.html Information Superhighways: The Next Information Revolution] ." "The Futurist", January-February 1991, Vol. 25: 21–23.
* [http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d102:SN00272:@@@L&summ2=m& High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991] USPL|102|194, (S.272)
* "The Digitization of Schools," "BusinessWeek", 10 December 1990.
* "Networking the Future: We Need a National Superhighway for Computer Information", "The Washington Post", 15 July 1990: B3.
* " [http://www.textfiles.com/politics/infohway.txt The Information Superhighways of Tomorrow] ." "Academic Computing Magazine." November 1989 Volume 4 Number 3.
* [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=77313.77315 "Congressional Record: Presentation on the National High Performance Computer Technology Act" and "Opening Remarks before the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space by Senator Al Gore"] in "National high performance computer technology act: SIGGRAPH and national high-tech public policy issues" by Donna J. Cox, "Computer Graphics", Volume 23, Issue 4, August 1989: 276–280.

References

*Agre, Phil. "http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/~goguen/courses/275f00/invented.html Who Invented "Invented"?:Tracing the Real Story of the "Al Gore Invented the Internet" Hoax] ". 17 October 2000
*Campbell-Kelly, Martin; Aspray, William. "." New York: BasicBooks, 1996.
*Chapman, Gary and Marc Rotenberg. " [http://www.cpsr.org/prevsite/publications/newsletters/old/1990s/Summer1993.txt The National Information Infrastructure:A Public Interest Opportunity] ." In "Computers, Ethics, & Social Values". Deborah G. Johnson and Helen Nissanbaum (eds.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1995: 628-644.
*Kahn, Bob and Vint Cerf. " [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ Al Gore and the Internet] ." 29 September 2000.
*Kleinrock, Leonard, Bob Kahn, Vint Cerf, et al. " [http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Transition A Brief History of the Internet] ." 10 December 2003
* LaQuey, Tracy. " [http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/editinc/ The Internet Companion:A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking (2nd edition)] ", 1994.
*Lee, Cynthia and Linda Steiner Lee. " [http://www.today.ucla.edu/1994/archive940113.html Gore Details Telecommunications Ideas] ." UCLA TODAY, Vol. 14, #9, January 13, 1994:1, 4. (The Superhighway Summit)
*Rheingold, Howard. "Afterword to the 1994 edition." "The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (revised edition). " Cambridge: MIT, 2000.
*Stix, Gary. [http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=83F1AFDF-DFDF-429F-B420-10D25322587 Gigabit Gestalt: Clinton and Gore embrace an activist technology policy] . "Scientific American", May, 1993.

Notes

External links

* [http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012201a.htm The Clinton White House Web Site Part 1: Perhaps the most important Web site in American history]
** [http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/EOP/OVP/html/GORE_Home.html First (1994-1995) version of Vice President Gore's homepage] - First White House website, launched Oct. 21, 1994.
** [http://clinton3.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OVP/index.html Second and third (1995-2000) version of Vice President Gore's homepage]
** [http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OVP/VP.html Final (2000) version of Vice President Gore's homepage]