The President and Vice President are supporting innovative applications of information technology for low-income families through the Department of Commerce. Examples include the use of telemedicine for prenatal care, telementoring for at-risk youth, a national computer network for local food banks, and distance learning for people who have lost their jobs. The call to action set goals such as ensuring that every child is technologically literate, and making home access to the Internet as ubiquitous as the telephone. For consumers, e-commerce can mean more choice, greater convenience, customized products, and lower prices. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have pursued a policy that allows electronic commerce to flourish by eliminating unnecessary government regulations and relying on private sector leadership whenever possible.
Customers can finalize mortgages, sign insurance contracts, or open brokerage accounts.
In October 1998, the President signed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, helping to protect America's intellectual property in cyberspace. In just over a year, the number of commercial Internet sites with privacy policies has increased from 15 percent to 66 percent. President Clinton signed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires commercial Web sites to get a parent's permission before collecting personal information from minors. In May 1999, Vice President Gore announced the Parents' Protection Page, an important new commitment by Internet companies to give parents the resources to protect their children from inappropriate material on the Internet and the knowledge to supervise and guide their children's online activities. The Administration is now working to provide easy access to grant and procurement opportunities.