Subtopic: General

Free-Market Internet: [In this scenario,] thousands of individual entrepreneurs …small businesses and large communications empires set up shop on the Information Superhighway in a free-market version of the Internet. While there would probably be a “toll charge” to tour the highway, the customer could freely visit available service providers, paying only for services actually rendered. Quite likely, there would be a number of free public access services.

The Electronic Shopping Mall: In this dynamic extension of the first scenario, a concentrated number of providers will take over the Information Superhighway and render it a giant electronic mega-mall. This means, for starters, that the customer must pay an entry fee to gain access to the “mall,” even to “window shop.”

You have more than likely heard the visions of, for example, interactive television, 500 channels and video on demand. Interactive multimedia, that dynamic merger of video, audio and computer technology, could enable the Information Superhighway to deliver a dazzling array of entertainment and educational alternatives onto screens in American homes. While far beyond the current capabilities of cable television, this scenario of the Information Superhighway represents a relatively modest degree of innovation. This limited view of the Information Superhighway presents the consumer with more options, but it is virtually identical in spirit to existing services, such as movies-on-demand offered by many hotels.