🚀 go-pugleaf

What should an infoport be (especially when the people responsible for the
designation don't know or won't tell you)?

I have seen some postings already concerning this, both on a macro (what
should an infoport be or do) and micro (e.g., should certain technologies
be deployed) level.  With the current state of thought so ill-defined, I
believe that it is important to stay on the macro level for now; the
specific technologies necessary to support the infoport should follow
naturally from a more concrete definition of what the infoport is.  My
thoughts follow:

1.  A key enabler of the infoport would be to set it up as a
telecommunications free trade zone with lower tariffs for traffic coming
into or out of the zone.  This would encourage its use (as opposed to
another city/region) and its economic development in general.  Information
created in certain offshore areas (Mexico or the Caribbean basin, for
example) could also be given preferential treatment.

2.  The infoport should be a global and/or regional information exchange
point, housing the applications and services necessary to support this
information exchange.  It is key that procedures be established with the UN,
and anyone else willing to abide by them, that information services
provided by the infoport not be duplicated elsewhere (e.g., by another
state or city that didn't receive the designation but wants to be an
infoport anyway).

3.  The infoport should be a regional information repository (e.g., for UN,
national, and international data).  Mechanisms should be put into place for
all interested users to access the data.

4.  Ohio must think big - with a 2 year franchise and other cities out to
get the franchise, Ohio must establish a dominant position rather than
targeting limited niches.

5.  Ohio and the UN (especially the latter) must make it clear as to why
using a designated infoport is better than using a non-infoport (e.g.,
better tariffs, taxes, services, information storage and access, etc.)

6.  Maximum benefit for the citizens of Ohio should be realized.  While
this applies in an economic sense, it also applies in an information
technology sense, too.  That is, any applicable information services
developed for the infoport should be offered to Ohio's citizens, too.  In
this way, the development of the global infoport can be leveraged for local
benefit, too.

Also, are there any UN documents available about the infoport designation?
Since they are promoting the concept, there must be some documentation
somewhere (if for no other reason than to give the UN something to vote on
in the first place and to establish criteria for selecting infoports).

Mike Weinstein
Room 1F-331A, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ  07733-3030
908-949-2080
maw@arch1.att.com or attmail!maweinstein