In the wake of the passage by Congress and signing by President Clinton of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, every organization that communicates electronically or is in the business of supporting electronic communication has undoubtedly taken a long, hard look at the way it does business. Higher education has been particularly alert to some of the issues raised by the legislation. There are opportunities for lower costs and enhanced services, yet paradoxically, perhaps, the advances in technology that served as a catalyst for updating the 1934 Telecommunications Act also raise interesting but thorny issues about compliance with the new regulations.

Educom, a nonprofit consortium of colleges, universities and corporate associates, has undertaken to report to its membership on the universal service* provisions of the bill as they affect educational institutions. Among the issues they raise for attention is whether universal service is pertinent to the Internet and with Internet service providers who currently are not regulated by the FCC or the states, and what the potential is for stress within the educational community at large as a result of the special treatment of the elementary and secondary school community.(1) Will it be at the expense of higher education, or will it foster new partnerships between the K-12 and university worlds?

The National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) has also addressed head on the concerns and regulated opportunities raised by the bill, as well as by recent technological advances made in provision of information.(2) They identify four changes in particular that impact the higher education community:

* the merging of technologies through digitizing of all forms of information;

* the privatization of the Internet;

* the deregulation of the telecommunications industry;

* the growing dependence of universities on telecommunications.

NASULGC has urged universities to participate actively in policy-forming debates at the local, state and federal level, and has outlined what it believes to be the critical issues for higher education in these debates.

CUNY has felt the effects of these changes and is, like all other institutions of higher education, dealing with the larger issues they bring to bear. The remainder of this article will review those issues, as defined by NASULGC, and attempt to highlight CUNY initiatives already underway that in some way address them.

Universal Access/Service/Affordability

Although the original Telecommunications Act of 1934 targeted "plain old telephone service" or POTS, in 1996 those telephone lines handle voice, data and video; the issues of access, service and affordability are compounded as a result. Deregulation, and the ensuing competition, may well decrease costs, spur innovation and expand access, but not overnight! How can universities continue to provide affordable access to the Internet during the turbulent shake-out period as telecommunications providers jockey for the market?

And will fairness reign in the deregulated world, so that all institutions of higher learning will have the same opportunities for affordable access as those large research institutions that may be seen as the best customers?

CUNY has already had to confront the issue of access. Whereas in the ideal world all CUNY students and faculty might have free access to the Internet both on campus and from home, in reality that is not possible. Campuses are not uniformly wired for Internet service, and the cost of providing free-of-charge dialup service (entailing ever-increasing numbers of leased lines, modems and staff support) to the large CUNY community makes free access out of the question.

Rather, we are currently taking advantage of current market conditions to negotiate a favorable contract for this service with a third-party provider. In other times, the deal probably would long since have been struck. However, the current volatility of the marketplace has caused the process to be a long and tricky one. Approaching the need for service in this way, however, provides the University with flexibility so that we can move to new levels of service as they present themselves.

Intellectual Property and the Dissemination of Knowledge

The technology of 1996 challenges the Copyright Act of 1976 by raising totally new issues: What is "intellectual property" in this new world of digitized communication? How can copyright holders be compensated for information that may be instantly and freely accessible via the Internet? What kinds of new protection are necessary to encompass images and sounds? Is it possible to balance "fair use" -- the ability to reproduce portions of copyrighted works in the academic environment -- against the expectation of fair and reasonable return to copyright holders?

CUNY faculty have already been grappling with these questions as they developed software for microcomputers and, more recently, in the multimedia and Internet arenas. The CUNY Office of Instructional Technology, recognizing the importance as well as the complexity of the issue, is offering a workshop for faculty entitled "Copyright and Fair Use of Instructional Media." One of the materials that will be distributed at the workshop is entitled "Fair Use of Copyrighted Works: A Crucial Element in Educating America,"(3) a publication developed jointly by librarians from California State University, SUNY and CUNY, and available on the Internet (at http://www.cetus.org). Separate articles in this newsletter describe the project that published this material and provide more in-depth coverage on the issues of Fair Use and Intellectual Property Guidelines. However, it is interesting at this point to note that the authors of the booklet include a Call to Action to "... seek alliances with other colleges, universities, professional associations, government agencies, and private companies engaged in advancing the educational opportunity to further an understanding of intellectual property rights and the critical role of fair use in teaching, learning, and scholarship. Primarily, we must uphold the principles of fair use for the long-term vitality of our nation."(4)

Privacy/Free Speech

The Exon Amendment to the Telecommunications Act, also known as the "Communications Decency Act of 1996," imposes criminal liability for allowing minors access to "indecent material" via the Internet. Positions taken and then reversed recently by commercial providers to censor some materials on the Internet have focused additional attention on this most complex issue. Who is ultimately responsible for the accuracy of information that may be transmitted from sources that circle the globe? How can an appropriate match between content and recipients be assured in the transmittal of information in this free-flowing Internet environment? And who, after all, will define what constitutes "indecent material?" These are especially troubling issues for universities, which have traditionally defended the right to free inquiry and free expression. Although the legislation contains a number of defenses against liability under the provisions of the act, extreme vigilance will be required if the Internet is to flourish as an information provider and if the University is to remain in its role as defender of the right of free speech and expression. Participation by the higher education community will be essential as the bill undergoes inevitable review procedures in all three branches of the federal government in upcoming months and years.

The related issue of privacy is equally challenging. Often the capability of the emerging technology to offer data in digital form precedes its ability to protect that data, and care must be taken not to embrace technology that doesn't offer security of content. Perhaps even more important, attitudes towards data stored digitally must be made to correspond to those of data locked in file cabinets.

Realizing Information Technology's Potential

Anyone who has been in the business of providing service in the information technology arena over the past twenty years is dizzy from recent developments. Tools we utilized twenty years ago are entirely obsolete, and tools used routinely by the end user today were not dreamed of five years ago. In the University, this brings enormous responsibilities to those who provide the infrastructure and to those who develop the applications that make use of it. Keeping in mind the concerns expressed already about privacy and free expression while designing applications that utilize the best that technology has to offer in the service of education is a very tall order!

CUNY has not shrunk from the task. One of the most basic components of the University --the library -- has been a central player in the development of the network infrastructure at CUNY, and in the transition from earlier network protocols that were data-only, to networks that move huge quantities of data and images from one location to another in record time. CUNY libraries are now, or will soon be, linked to information resources worldwide. Support for development of courseware has moved in the past ten years from standalone programs for microcomputers, to multimedia courses on CD-ROM, and more recently to an even more ambitious instructional environment that utilizes the CUNYNet infrastructure to deliver video, data and voice in real-time. The instructional possibilities that this technology offers are unlimited, but must be utilized thoughtfully.

Emerging Partnership Opportunities

In the same way that opportunities within CUNY have been expanded through the use of technology, the boundaries of opportunity now extend well beyond the walls, in ways that are only beginning to be explored. CUNY is already involved in two formal partnerships -- CETUS and NetTech -- that hold promise for powerful application of shared resources, among the participants and, in the case of NetTech (5), to the entire K-12 community within the northeastern United States. (See CETUS article, and the NetTech announcement in the Fall 1995 issue of FYeI.)

The use of such simple technology as facsimile transmission allows partners on opposite sides of the continent to be in possession of printed materials within minutes. Electronic mail and document delivery, video-conferencing, and use of the World Wide Web makes collaboration of CETUS partners possible with little additional overhead cost beyond that of the network infrastructure which is already in place. Regulatory changes anticipated as a result of the new legislation, along with downsizing in the corporate world, are having an effect on the traditional partnerships between universities and industry. It is not clear, yet, just what the long-term effect of deregulation will be, but at the moment alliances seem to be more task-specific and strategic in nature, and less broad-based.

Certainly the combined wisdom of those who can provide the technical infrastructure and those who will use it in the academic arena of the university to deliver opportunities for learning appropriate to the 21st century will be necessary to utilize the technology to best advantage, while at the same time safeguarding those basic rights and freedoms that universities have always protected.

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* A summary of the draft language of the bill defines `universal service' as an evolving level of telecommunication and information technologies and services that are essential to education, public health and public safety; have been subscribed to by a substantial majority of residential customers; are being deployed in public telecommunications networks; and are consistent with the public interest, convenience and necessity.

Footnotes

(1) Electronic mail from Educom to members of its taskforce on telecommunications, January 30, 1996.

(2) The Changing Telecommunications Marketplace; Issues and Challenges for Higher Education, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, Commission on Information Technologies, November 1995.

(3) Fair Use of Copyrighted Works, The Trustees of California State University, 1995.

(4) Fair Use of Copyrighted Works, Introduction.

(5) As FYeI went to press, NetTech and the New York State Department of Technology Policy were hosting a forum on Universal Access for the benefit of those making policy or providing information services in the educational sector. The agenda included the very issues highlighted in this article. The next issue of this newsletter will contain a report on the forum and other activities of NetTech.