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TOWN
HALL
Docember10,1993
Mr.
JeffDuncanSubcommJttee
on
Telecommunications
and
FinanceCommittee
on
Energy
and
Commerce
U.s.
House
of
RepresentativesWashington,D.C.20515DearJeff:Thanksfor
the
opportunity
to
comment
on
the
lettersfrom
Chairman
Dlngell.
In
reading
the
letters
to
Mr.
levittand
Mr.
Duderstadt,
thethingthat
lumped
out
quickestwas
the
fact
that
wemayhavelostsight
of
the
realaim
ofthe
NSF
project:
to
determineIftheremight
be
awayfor
the
government
to
takea$70.6million
Job
anddo
Itfora
few
hundredthousand
dollars
andat
the
sametimeserve
the
publicInterestInamoreeffectivemanner.
Our
project
Is
an
researchInvestigationforalimitedterm.Ourproject
Is
not
out
to
takeamarketawayfromanybody
andour
projectproposal
to
the
NSF
dearly
emphasizes
the
Investigativenature
ofour
project.Theaim
of
the
Internetproject
Is
to
learn
If
wehaveoptions
and
togivepolleymakers
the
ablllty
to
makeInformedchoicesIn
the
future.Becausewearearesearchproject,we
do
not
competewith
the
commercialproviders
anddo
not
damage
the
SEC
EdgarDisseminationSystem.Ouractivities
donot
damageMeadData
central
Ineither
of
Itsrolesas
the
datawholesaleroras
the
flrst
and
primaryretaller
of
the
Information.Let
me
giveyoua
few
aspects
ofthe
project
that
emphasize
the
non-competltlve,complementarynature
of
what
wearedoing:•
We
specificallypurchase
the
Level1TapeFeed,whichconsists
of
acompilation
of
the
data
that
the
"L1ve·
feed
customersreceivethroughout
the
datadelivered
to
us
by
FederalExpress
the
nextday.MeadDataCentral(In
both
Itsroles)
and
all
theother
commercialproVIders
of
the
EDGAR
datawllJhaveaJump
of
24hours
or
more
on
the
Internetdata.•Ourcontractwith
NYU
(and
our
contractswith
our
suppliers)specifyaserviceoffering
to
the
Internet
of
1millionbitspersecond
of
throughput.
If
youwereloggedIn
and
transferring
flJes,
that
mighttranslate
to
SO
simultaneoususers.
We
willhave
only
afraction
of
the
capacltyItwouldtake
to
compete
withthe
commercialproviders.
APRODUCUON
OF
7Hf
INTERNET
MUlUCAmNG
SERVICE
SUITE
1155•THENATIONAL
PRESS
BUIlDING.
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
20045
TEL:
(202)
628-2044.
FAX:
(202)
628-2042.
EMAIL:
CarlORadio.COM
•TheInternet
wUI
haveonlyminimalsoftwaredevelopedspecificallyforthisproject.Standardtoolswillbe
used
on
theInternetwhilecommercialproviderswillhavespedalcustomizedsoftware
to
offertheirusers.•TheInternetwillhavelittlemanualmanipulation
of
thedata,aprocesswhichthecommercialprovidersuse
to
greatadvantagetoprovideacompetitiveedgefor
theLr
respectiveversionsofthedata.Forexample,somecommercialproviderspullbalancesheetsoutofannualreportsandmanuallytagthem.WhIlewecan
do
someofthosefunctions,wedon'thavethelargestaffnecessary
to
doextensivemanualdatamanipulation.•UsersontheInternet
wUl
havetocompetewitheachotherfor
ac-
cess.
If
youreallyneedthedata,youwlllhave
no
choicebuttocontracttoacommercialgrouptohaveguaranteesofreliabledelivery.Ibelievethemisconceptionthatoursystem
Is
competitive
Is
one
of
thefundamentalreasonsfortheuneasiness
that
some
people
feel
aboutInternetdissemination
of
EDGAR
data.Thereare,however,a
few
otherpoints
that
Mr.
DingeU
raised
In
hisletterthatIwouldlike
to
address.
Was
the
project
negotiated
in
secrecy?
TheproJectwasoriginallyconceivedInadiscussionbetweenmyselfandJohnLane,theChiefInformationOfficerofthe
SEC.
Mr.
LaneandIhadextensivediscussions
on
howtheprojectshouldlookto
be
acceptable
tothe
SEC.
Forexample,thepresenceof
NYU
as
aprimecontractorwasadirectresult
of
Mr.
Lane'sInput.
Mr.
Laneand
bJs
staffattendedatleastthreemeetIngs
to
discuss
the
project,andwehadnumeroustelephoneconversations.Onlyafter
Mr.
LaneandIdefinedtheprojectdIdwebring
It
to
theSubcommitteeforreviewandthen
to
NSF
and
NYU
andtheotherparties.MeadDataCentralhadcop
Ies
of
theoriginaldocumentsandwasInvited
to
takepartIn
the
discussions.ImightalsomentionthattheexJstence
of
the
NSF
grantproposalwasmentionedInareport
by
yourSubcommittee.WhileIrealizethatyoumaynotgetmassreadership
on
thesereports,theyarenotexactlyasecret.
Is
the
data
secure?
INTERNET
Mr.
Jeff
Duncon.
Page
2
\..
\t
f/
TOWN
HALL
The
EDGAR
data
we
willrelease
Is
no
different
than
the
EDGAR
datathatMeadDataCentralwillrelease.WhileontheInternetserver
or
ontheMeadDataCentralserver,thedata
Is
retJd
only.
Enduserscannotchangethedata
on
anyoftheservers,commercialornon-commerclaJ.ThequestionsIwouldaskwouldconcentrate
on
theIncrementalchange
be-
tweentheInternetserviceandtheexistingcommercialproviders.Rather
than
ask
If
theserveroperated
by
theInternetMulticastingservice
Is
secure,forexample,Iwouldwanttoknow
If
It
wasanymoreorlesssecure
than
theoneoperated
by
MeadDataCentral.IshouldnotethattheInternetMulticasting
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