LIKE it or not, United States Vice-President Al Gore - he of the Superman haircut and squeaky clean image - has become a key player in the development of the telecommunications ideals lumped together under the unbelievable term Information Superhighway.
In the US, Mr Gore has championed telecommunications reforms. Not since the break-up of AT&Tin the early 1980s when the regional Bell operating companies were spun off into independent companies has the industry in the US seen quite such dramatic change.
The break-up of AT&T was achieved through a court decree and since then, as competitive forces began to be felt, the industry has become leaner - with whole legions of workers losing jobs - and a lot meaner.
But the problem that has arisen in the US as a result of the tougher competition - and this is the area Mr Gore is most concerned about - is that the judiciary has played an inordinately big role in the seemingly ad hoc shaping of US telecommunications policy.
The overall telecommunications environment appeared to be built on disputes; as telecom companies, cable companies and broadcasters slugged it out in court, the direction of telecommunications policy seemed to have been shaped by court rulings.
In January, Mr Gore made a landmark speech for the US industry outlining the Clinton Administration's objective to get the courts out of the telephone business, to encourage private investment, to further open competition by allowing local phone companies, long-distance carriers and cable TV companies to play on each other's turf, and to create a flexible, liberal environment.