Orrin Hatch: “today, together with my distinguished colleague from Vermont, Senator Leahy, I am introducing the National Information…”

“today, together with my distinguished colleague from Vermont, Senator Leahy, I am introducing the National Information Infrastructure Copyright Protection Act of 1995, which amends the Copyright Act to bring it up to date with the digital communications age. The National Information Infrastructure or ``NII'' is a fancy name for what is popularly known as the ``information highway.'' Probably most people today experience the information highway by means of their computers when they use electronic mail or subscribe to a bulletin board service or use other on-line services. But these existing services are only dirt roads compared to the superhighway of information-sharing which lies ahead. The NII of the future will link not only computers, but also telephones, televisions, radios, fax machines, and more into an advanced, high-speed, interactive, broadband, digital communications system. Over this information superhighway, data, text, voice, sound, and images will travel, and their digital format will permit them not only to be viewed or heard, but also to be copied and manipulated. The digital format will also ensure that copies will be perfect reproductions, without the degradation that normally occurs today when audio and videotapes are copied. The NII has tremendous potential to improve and enhance our lives, by providing quick, economical, and high-quality access to information that educates and entertains as well as informs.”