The Prison that was a Highway

The years 1993 through 1998 saw the emergence of a new communications technology in the US. During this time the Internet evolved beyond its prior status as a tool for academia, the military, and the computer industry. It became a general use instrument for commerce and correspondence.

Two divergent metaphors emerged during these years for this new form of computer-mediated communication:

• Al Gore, who was then US Vice President, spearheaded a national movement to create a public information utility. Dubbing it an "Information Superhighway," Gore painted the proposed National Information Infrastructure as a beacon of shining hope, promising abundant access and interaction for all.
• Another vision of this selfsame technology used a 18th century prison design as its metaphor. The Panopticon was a penitentiary which used a complete loss of privacy to instill obedience in its inmates. Advocates of this vision chronicled how government and corporations were secretly gathering information about the general public through computer-mediated transactions and other forms of online activity.

Examining the Paradox

In Spring 2001, we are just beginning to gain perspective on the origins of the general-use Internet. How accurate were each of these visions in their time? Were they rooted in fact or were they designed as propaganda devices to motivate and manipulate their adherents? And are they still applicable in Spring 2001? These questions, which are at the heart of the highway vs. prison paradox, are explored in this essay within the following sections:

• The National Information Infrastructure
  The history and the aims of the Information Superhighway
• The Panopticon
  How this penal metaphor has been invoked to describe various elements of the information age
• After the Gold Rush
  How these two metaphors are evolving in the nascent Bush Administration

Follow Trail: Al Gore's Internet Agenda