High Performance Computing Act of 1991
{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox U.S. legislation
| name = High Performance Computing Act of 1991
| fullname = An Act to provide for a coordinated Federal program to ensure continued United States leadership in high-performance computing.
| acronym = HPCA
| nickname = Gore Bill
| enacted by = 102nd
| effective date = December 9, 1991
| public law url = http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-105/pdf/STATUTE-105-Pg1594.pdf
| cite public law = 102-194
| cite statutes at large = {{usstat|105|1594}}
| acts amended =
| acts repealed =
| title amended = 15 U.S.C.: Commerce and Trade
| sections created = {{Usc-title-chap|15|81}} § 5501
| sections amended =
| leghisturl = http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d102:SN00272:@@@S
| introducedin = Senate
| introducedbill = {{USBill|102|S.|272}}
| introducedby = Al Gore (D-TN)
| introduceddate = January 24, 1991
| committees = Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee and Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space
| passedbody1 = Senate
| passeddate1 = September 11, 1991
| passedvote1 = passed
| passedbody2 = House
| passedas2 =
| passeddate2 = November 20, 1991
| passedvote2 = passed
| conferencedate =
| passedbody3 =
| passeddate3 =
| passedvote3 =
| agreedbody3 = Senate
| agreeddate3 = November 22, 1991
| agreedvote3 = agreed
| agreedbody4 =
| agreeddate4 =
| agreedvote4 =
| passedbody4 =
| passeddate4 =
| passedvote4 =
| signedpresident = George H. W. Bush
| signeddate = December 9, 1991
| unsignedpresident =
| unsigneddate =
| vetoedpresident =
| vetoeddate =
| overriddenbody1 =
| overriddendate1 =
| overriddenvote1 =
| overriddenbody2 =
| overriddendate2 =
| overriddenvote2 =
| amendments =
| SCOTUS cases =
}}
{{Internet history timeline}}
The High Performance Computing Act of 1991 (HPCA) is an Act of Congress promulgated in the 102nd United States Congress as (Pub.L. 102–194) on December 9, 1991. Often referred to as the Gore Bill,[http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/internet_history/internet_history_90s.shtml Computer History Museum – Exhibits – Internet History – 1990s] it was created and introduced by then Senator Al Gore, and led to the development of the National Information Infrastructure, the funding of the National Research and Education Network (NREN), and the High-Performance Computing and Communications Program (HPCC).[http://www.nal.usda.gov/pgdic/Probe/v1n1_2/info.html Information Superhighway Envisioned-Legislation Pending to Establish National Computer Network] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001232135/http://www.nal.usda.gov/pgdic/Probe/v1n1_2/info.html |date=2006-10-01 }}[http://www.grand.k12.ut.us/district/tech/nren.html NREN | Technology Resources][https://www.nitrd.gov/PUBS/flier96/flier96.pdf The Federal HPCC Program, HPCC program flier, (April 1996)]
The funding allocation was approximately $600 million.{{Cite web|title=Al Gore {{!}} Internet Hall of Fame|url=https://internethalloffame.org/inductees/al-gore|access-date=2021-06-25|website=internethalloffame.org}}
Background
The act built on prior U.S. efforts of developing a national networking infrastructure, starting with the technological foundation of the ARPANET in the 1960s and continuing through the funding of the National Science Foundation Network (NSFnet) in the 1980s. The renewed effort became known in popular language as building the Information superhighway.{{Cite web |url=http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v46/no3/blake.html |title=FCLJ Vol 46, No. 3 – Blake and Tiedrich |access-date=2007-06-02 |archive-date=2007-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609213537/http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v46/no3/blake.html |url-status=dead }} It also included the High-Performance Computing and Communications Initiative and spurred many significant technological developments, such as the Mosaic web browser,[http://www.totic.org/nscp/demodoc/demo.html NCSA Mosaic – September 10, 1993 Demo] and the creation of a high-speed fiber optic computer network.
Development and passage
Senator Al Gore developed the Act after hearing the 1988 report Toward a National Research Network{{Cite book
| last1 = Kleinrock | first1 = Leonard
| last2 = Kahn | first2 = Bob
| last3 = Clark | first3 = David
| title = Toward a National Research Network
| year = 1988
| doi = 10.17226/10334
| isbn = 978-0-309-58125-7
| url = http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=NI000393
| access-date = 2007-06-01
|display-authors=etal}} submitted to Congress by a group chaired by UCLA professor of computer science Leonard Kleinrock, one of the creators of the ARPANET, which is regarded as the earliest precursor network of the Internet.{{Cite web
| last1 = Kleinrock | first1 = Leonard
| last2 = Cerf | first2 = Vint
| last3 = Kahn | first3 = Bob
| title = A Brief History of the Internet
| date = 2003-12-10
| url = http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Transition
| access-date = 2007-06-01
|display-authors=etal}}
The bill was enacted on December 9, 1991, and led to the National Information Infrastructure (NII){{Cite web
| last1 = Chapman | first1 = Gary
| last2 = Rotenberg | first2 = Marc
| title = The National Information Infrastructure:A Public Interest Opportunity
| year = 1993
| url = http://www.cpsr.org/prevsite/publications/newsletters/old/1990s/Summer1993.txt
| access-date = 2007-06-01
}} which Gore referred to as the "Information superhighway". President George H. W. Bush predicted that the Act would help "unlock the secrets of DNA," open up foreign markets to free trade, and a promise of cooperation between government, academia, and industry.{{cite news | first=George H.W.| last=Bush| url=http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=3723&year=1991&month=12| title= Remarks on Signing the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 | work=bushlibrary.tamu.edu|publisher=George Bush Presidential Library| date=9 December 1991| access-date=2008-01-16}}
Results
The Gore Bill helped fund the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, where a team of programmers, including Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, created the Mosaic Web browser{{cite news|url=http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_mosaic.htm|title=Mosaic – The First Global Web Browser|work=livinginternet.com|access-date=2007-06-01|archive-date=2007-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702183017/http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_mosaic.htm|url-status=dead}} in 1993, the commercial Internet's technological springboard credited as beginning the Internet boom of the 1990s. Andreessen later remarked that 'If it had been left to private industry, it wouldn't have happened ... at least, not until years later.' {{cite news |first=Keith|last=Perine |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HWW/is_43_3/ai_66672985/print| title=The Early Adopter – Al Gore and the Internet – Government Activity |work=findarticles.com|publisher=The Industry Standard|date=23 October 2000|access-date=2007-06-01}}
Gore reiterated the role of government financing in American success in a 1996 speech when he, as vice president, said, "That's how it has worked in America. Government has supplied the initial flicker—and individuals and companies have provided the creativity and innovation that kindled that spark into a blaze of progress and productivity that's the envy of the world."{{cite web|url=http://cs.washington.edu/homes/lazowska/faculty.lecture/innovation/gore.html |title=Vice President Al Gore's ENIAC Anniversary Speech |publisher=Cs.washington.edu |date=February 14, 1996 |access-date=July 27, 2009}}
CNN interview
Following a 1999 CNN interview, then-Vice President Gore became the subject of some controversy and ridicule when his claim that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet"{{cite news
|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/president.2000/transcript.gore
|title=Transcript: Vice President Gore on CNN's 'Late Edition'
|work=CNN
|publisher=CNN
|date=9 March 1999
|access-date=2007-06-02}} was widely quoted out of context or misquoted, with comedians and the popular media taking his expression as a claim that he had personally invented the Internet.{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp|title=Internet of Lies|date=5 May 2005 |publisher=Snopes.com|access-date=2012-08-26}}{{cite web | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2013/11/04/a-cautionary-tale-for-politicians-al-gore-and-the-invention-of-the-internet/ | title=A cautionary tale for politicians: Al Gore and the 'invention' of the Internet | publisher=Washington Post - Fact Checker | date=4 November 2013 | access-date=4 February 2014 | author=Kessler, Glenn}} George W. Bush, Gore's opponent in the 2000 presidential election, mocked Gore's claim during his acceptance speech before the Republican National Convention that year.[https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=123214&page=4 Transcript of George W. Bush's Acceptance Speech]. ABC News. 2000-08-04. Retrieved 2015-01-30.
The meaning of the statement, which referred to his legislative support of key technologies in the development of the Internet, was widely reaffirmed by notable Internet pioneers, such as Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, who stated, "No one in public life has been more intellectually engaged in helping to create the climate for a thriving Internet than the Vice President".{{Cite web|last1=Kahn|first1=Bob|author-link1=Bob Kahn|last2=Cerf|first2=Vint|author-link2=Vint Cerf|title=Al Gore and the Internet|date=2000-09-29|url=http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0009/msg00311.html|access-date=2007-06-02|display-authors=etal}}
President's Information Technology Advisory Committee
PITAC was started in 1991 under the High Performance Computing Act of 1991. On May 28, 2003, President George W. Bush extended the committee.{{cite news|last1=Office of the Press Secretary|title=Extension of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2003/05/30/03-13750/extension-of-the-presidents-information-technology-advisory-committee-and-the-presidents-council-of|work=Federal Register|publisher=Federal Government of the United States|location=Washington, D.C.|date=May 30, 2003|access-date=April 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122015731/https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2003/05/30/03-13750/extension-of-the-presidents-information-technology-advisory-committee-and-the-presidents-council-of|archive-date=November 22, 2016|author1-link=White House Office of the Press Secretary}} [https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2003-05-30/pdf/03-13750.pdf Alt URL]
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Wikisource}}
- [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEED91738F931A3575AC0A966958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print Creating a Giant Computer Highway], via NYTimes.com
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929115744/http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Net_info/Misc/gore.bill Early draft of Gore Bill], via EFF.org
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122118/http://www.eff.org/Infrastructure/Old/s1067_89_gore_hpc.bill Introduction of Gore Bill], via EFF.org
- [http://www.nitrd.gov/congressional/laws/pl_102-194.html Summary of Gore Bill], via NITRD.gov
- {{USBill|102|S.|272}}: High Performance Computing Act of 1991, via THOMAS
Category:102nd United States Congress
Category:United States federal commerce legislation
Category:United States federal computing legislation
Category:History of the Internet