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Regulation of the Internet, concerns about privacy and security, and the so-called "digital divide" were among the issues discussed at a town hall meeting, America: On the Net, held Sept. 25, in Alfred Lerner Hall's Roone Arledge Auditorium.
The program, is one of eight co-sponsored nationwide by the Internet Policy Institute along with university partners and provides a forum for the public to discuss the Internet and how it has impacted their lives.
One issue was discussed throughout the two-hour meeting was whether the Internet should be regulated by the government in order to prevent distribution of private information such as social security, credit card and phone numbers from Internet data banks.
"It's a trust issue, and I am not sure you can regulate trust," said one woman, who regularly does research on web sites that request personal information as the price for access. She often gives a false name when confronted by web privacy policies that state "we won't give your information out, but that may change." Her comment prompted laughter but also raised the more serious issue of how much privacy Internet users may be willing to trade.
Participants also discussed the gap between the technological haves and have-nots. How can we, as a nation, provide access to technology and education for children to develop skills? Kara Swisher of The Wall Street Journal, who moderated the event, mentioned that prominent public officials like Newt Gingrich and New York Board of Education Chancellor Harold Levy have proposed giving laptops to young students.
The problem with the Levy proposal, according to Charles Bell of the New York Coalition for Commercial Free Schools, is that it would expose children to advertising. "We really wish that some other alternatives can be discussed that don't involve holding children as captive audiences to advertisers," he said, and suggested that providing children with computers be paid for with public funds.
Others expressed concern that young people can not navigate state-of-the-art laptops; one woman suggested that companies donate older desktops to allow children to learn basic computer skills first. Another pointed out that laptops are easy to steal, and still another said they are too heavy. "Children carry enough books," she said. "Now we are asking them to carry an additional eight-pound laptop."
Mario Morino, chairman of the Morino Institute, talked about the need for developing better education programs because the "digital divide" is also a social divide. Not dealing with other societal issues prior to trying to correct a digital divide, he said, would be like "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic."
While many, said technology will widen disparities in society, one woman argued that technology provides a door through which "people can empower themselves." Others also spoke about the benefits that the Internet has had on society. Those benefits range from assisting the disabled and the elderly to providing unprecedented communication possibilities such as being able, via e-mail to co-author a publication with a writer in India.
Ruth Friendly of the Media and Society Seminars at the Columbia School of Journalism shared a story about how this intergenerational tool prompted an online game of gin rummy when she received an AOL instant message from her grandson. To the audience's laughter, she pointed out that she had won the match.
A short-story writer said the Internet had provided him with a wider readership than he would have had otherwise. A woman spoke of a friend who had "gotten her life back" after suffering strokes that limited her physical activity.
The concerns and suggestions gathered in this town hall meeting will provide the framework for a December 15th America: On the Net national summit in which the data compiled will be conveyed to the President-elect of the United States, policymakers, business leaders and Internet visionaries. Each of the eight university town hall meetings as well as the December national summit will be available to the public via Internet broadcast at Yahoo!® Broadcast (http://broadcast.yahoo.com).
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