February 8th marks the 18th anniversary of the last communications law overhaul passed by Congress, the 1996 Telecom Act. The '96 Act referenced the Internet only once.
Technology has evolved so rapidly since 1996 that the debates we had in those days now seem quaint, and the communications opportunities available to consumers in 2014 would have been unrecognizable 18 years ago.
My, oh my, how things have changed.
1. In 1996, this baby was popularized by the first Matrix movie.
2. And these things were still plugged into the walls of 97 percent of U.S. households.
3. Eighteen years ago, you still owned a dinosaur-of-a desktop computer.
4. But loneliness was still a thing.
And its twin sister boredom, too. (What DID you do before you could watch GIFs like this on end?)
5. In 1996, Mark Zuckerberg looked something like this:
6. What was clipped on your windbreaker pants? A pager!
7. And cellphones weren’t glued to the hands of every child.
8. “You’ve got mail” was quickly becoming your favorite phrase in 1996.
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9. And this sound made your heart beat a little faster.
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Ohhh, the nostalgia.
10. You used an oversized piece of paper to get where you were going.
11. Telephone companies offered telephone service through signals delivered over circuit-switched networks.
12. And cable companies used coaxial cables to deliver multi-channel video service.
13. You were still impressed by this “cutting-edge” technology 18 years ago.
And you couldn’t live without this trusty companion.
14. In 1996, chat rooms weren’t (as) creepy.
15. But owning lots of tech gadgets got you labeled as a geek.
16. Back then, this blew your mind with its 64-bit central processing unit.
17. And waddya know? This year is also the 18th anniversary of Travelocity opening online.
18. Finally, this TV ad for President Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign contained the slogan, “Building a Bridge to the 21st Century.”
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And on February 8, 1996, he signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Eighteen years later, the "bridge to the 21st Century" is nearly complete, with consumer choice as the driving force. Two-thirds of the country no longer uses the old phone system at all, instead choosing high-speed, broadband-capable networks. As this "IP transition" to date underscores, consumers realize how Internet-based networks offer them far more.
It's time to modernize the 1996 Telecommunications Act and put the right public policies in place — policies that will unleash investment and the newer technologies consumers want. Let's accelerate the IP transition and finish building that bridge.
To learn more, go to www.internetinnovation.org.
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