The report aims to create a uniform code for electronic commerce, to delegate privacy regulation to industry and consumer groups, to let security standards and management be driven by market forces, to address Internet copyright protection issues, and to promise not to tax goods and services delivered by the Internet. The framework's primary author, Ira Magaziner, has been propelled into the limelight as a consequence of this enlightened policy. So far so good, but the battle is not over. Spanning all nations, the Internet is the biggest machine in history. It is not clear that any single government can control it.
Few politicians understand that.
The Clinton administration may have shifted, but Congress still doesn't get it. This year no fewer than four bills regarding encryption either went or are scheduled to go before the legislature. The most liberal proposal went down this past spring. Called the Promotion of Commerce Online in the Digital Era, or ProCODE Act, it was killed by the Senate Commerce Committee, which believed Clinton would have vetoed it. Of course, the government would need a court order to do that, but even so, the computer industry opposes the interference.