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In Reply to: No... posted by Acheick on January 22, 2004 at 15:52:19:
People who only repeat what is being said without examining the facts will often make mistakes. The following is an excerpt taken from: http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5_10/wiggins/
explaining and timelining Gore's record on issues related to technology and the network infrastructure, including his unfortunate comment, which was then taken out of context. While it may reflect a flaw in his character that makes him exagerate, the reality is that he had a major role to play in the inception of what we now call The Internet. (excerpt follows:)
Gore's efforts in the mid to late 1980s to promote national networking initiatives eventually paid off, when the High Performance Computing Act of 1991 was passed by both houses of Congress. The Houston Chronicle ran an article under the headline "Data superhighway' for nation's computers approved by Congress" on November 30, 1991, crediting Gore's role:
A plan to create a high-tech "data superhighway" likened in importance to the creation of the nation's highway system has been approved by Congress and sent to President Bush for his signature.
The plan would create a high-speed national computer networking infrastructure that would link computers in the nation's research, education and military establishments.
Proponents say that this network eventually will evolve into a universally available National Public Telecomputing Network that may be the successor to the telephone system, marrying the entertainment, communications and computer industries.
The High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, which contains the plan, was approved by a House-Senate conference committee over the weekend after being stalled for several weeks because of disagreement over a "buy American first" provision.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Albert Gore, D-Tenn., does not provide funding for the effort. Budget allocations and appropriations must be made individually during each year of the program.
No less an authority than Vint Cerf, inventor of the Internet Protocol, has gone on record confirming Gore's role in U.S. Internet development. On June 14, 2000, Time Magazine hosted a live Internet forum with Cerf. The (anonymous) moderator joined his journalistic wisecrackers by invoking Gore's Internet inventor "claim." Cerf abstained from the frivolity.
