Cisco Government Affairs Launches "Virtual Think Tank"

March 2, 2001

As part of Cisco's Office of Government Affairs' efforts to leverage the Internet to help shape public policy, Cisco has launched a "High Tech Community"a site that allows participants to add their thoughts on the high-tech policy issues. The site can be reached via Cisco's "Internet Economy Policy Guide" located at www.cisco.com/gov.

The site targets policymakers at the local, state, federal and international levels, as well as academics, analysts and the media. The goal of the site is to create a place where people interested in policy can go to get answers, exchange ideas and expertise on public policy issues, or simply "see what colleagues are saying across the hall or across an ocean."

Cisco's policy focus in 2001 are in the areas of Education, eGovernment and Broadband Deployment - these areas are highlighted on the High Tech Community site. Other topic areas include Internet taxation, Privacy and Telecom Deregulation.

Additionally, each week-a topical-"question of the week" will be posted to solicit thoughts from community members.

Coming soon, the site will feature an "Ask the Expert" section. This section will enable policy experts to host forums on their area of expertise. After a two-week question period, the expert will post the questions and answers to such issues as: privacy, telecom deregulation, security, education and more.

In the near future, the site will have additional functionality that will allow participants to upload and share documents, bills, white papers, etc. to directly solicit feedback from community members.

Please visit the site, participate and utilize it as a place to exchange ideas on the high-tech public policies that you are interested in.