National Information Infrastructure

It's been 15 years since the US National Information Infrastructure hearings kicked off the digital copyright wars.

Vice President Al Gore, who called on American industry and government to work together to create a ``national information infrastructure'' that would ``enable U.S. firms to compete and win in the global economy.''

Two years ago, the NSF lifted restrictions against commercial use of the Internet, and in September the White House announced a plan to make it the starting point for an even grander concept called the National Information Infrastructure.

More precisely, they were trying to shape the future of the cumbersomely named "National Information Infrastructure," the official name for the "information superhighway" that it was presumed would replace the "immature" technology of the Net.

That office promulgated first a Green Paper and then, after further hearings, a White Paper, on "Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure."