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April 04, 2005

U.S. finishes Internet study requested by Congress in 1998

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the National Research Council, a private organization chartered by Congress to advise the government of scientific matters, just finished a report on Internet traffic that Congress requested seven years ago.

Lawmakers had demanded the $1 million study, ultimately called "Signposts in Cyberspace," under a 1998 law. Passed almost at the dawn of what became the Internet boom, the law required the Commerce Department to seek a study about Web addresses and trademarks by the National Research Council and wrap up the report within nine months.
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The council published its findings Thursday -- two presidential administrations later and years after the implosion of what had been a bustling Internet economy
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"This was eagerly awaited for about 6 1/2 years ago," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., who ordered the study in 1998 as chairman of the House Science Committee.

No word yet on whether Al Gore (the inventor of the Internet) has seen this report yet.

He is probably still downloading it on his state-of-the-art 28K modem.