Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
September 10, 2000, Sunday, Home Edition
SECTION: Business; Pg. 6Q
LENGTH: 824 words
HEADLINE:
Ga. Tech to host forum about the Net
BYLINE: Ernest
Holsendolph, Staff
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
The Internet is pretty cool, but it's not the
post office.
So what's to envy about the U.S. Postal Service? Well, its
embrace, for starters. People accept the post office, roses, thorns and all
because it's there, because it comes calling every day, often with the most
important things in our lives. Bills, yes, but also cards, information and
checks.
As Federal Express disclosed last week, in its dramatic proposal
to be a partner with the post office, people high and low like that venerable
institution.
What does it take to get that same closeness, familiarity
and trust for the booming Internet? That question lies at the heart of an open
forum that will be held next week at Georgia Tech to listen to ordinary people
like you and me tell what they want from the Internet.
The forum is the
first of eight that will be given under the auspices of the Washington-based
Internet Policy Institute, which has been examining the issue of public policies
toward the huge new medium.
Freely growing
On the one hand the
Internet has grown like a field of wildflowers, freely, rapidly and in
captivating profusion.
Some say its glory is its freedom from regulation
and the hand of anyone who would control it. But the Internet Policy Institute,
convinced that " rules of the road" will eventually have to be drawn as the
Internet grows, aims to draw out an array of public opinion to guide.
At
the end of the series of eight forums, the organization plans to present
findings to the new president-elect in mid-December. In coming weeks, other
forums will be held on college campuses in Detroit; New York; San Jose, Calif. ;
Seattle; Omaha, Neb.; Austin, Texas; and Oxford, Miss.
One member of the
Internet Policy Institute, clearly with some influence, is Georgia Tech
President Wayne Clough, who will host the first meeting. It will be held from 9
to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications
and will be televised on the Internet by Yahoo Broadcast at broadcast.yahoo.com.
Many public officials will attend, mostly to listen, as well as teachers
and students and just folks. A satellite portion of the forum, connected to the
main show at GCAT, will be conducted in Douglas --- Wayne Clough's hometown.
"The involvement of Douglas symbolizes our effort to bring in the voices
of all segments of the state and not just the city," said Clough.
What's
likely to come up at this first in the series of forums?
Glad you asked,
said the folks from the Internet Policy. The organization enlisted the
Yankelovich polling organization to sample opinion in Atlanta and discovered
that interest here in the Internet runs well ahead of findings in other parts of
the country or the nation at large.
Controlling the governance
For
instance, more than half of the random, in-depth sampling of opinion from 217
metro Atlantans showed that more than half of residents pay close attention to
stories about the Internet, vs. 30 percent in the nation at large. More than 80
percent have a positive feeling about the medium, and more than 55 percent would
vote online if they got the chance.
Businesses will be glad to learn
that nearly 60 percent of the polled residents think there should be no
tax on Internet sales.
Here was a
surprise to me --- when asked if they thought necessary regulation of
Internet activity should be by states or the federal
government, 65 percent of the Georgians preferred the federal government.
Georgians, who usually prefer government "closest to the people," in
this case sensed that an Internet involved in interstate, indeed global
commerce, needs broad oversight.
Critical issues that need a lot of
thought include:
1. Taxation policy regarding the Internet, including
decisions on who should tax and who should get the revenue --- keeping the
Internet on the same playing field as local merchants.
2. How to
preserve privacy for people.
3. How to develop security of financial
transactions that gain public confidence, so we can do business by credit card
on the Internet with the same feeling of security we have in sending checks by
mail.
4. How to increase Internet participation in rural areas and among
minorities to compare with the 70 percent-plus ownership and use of computers
here in metro areas like Atlanta.
Asked about the timeliness of the
forums, Kimberly Jenkins, president of the Internet Policy Institute, said:
"We're standing at an important Internet crossroad in the first year of
the new millennium ... Many rules of the road for the Internet will be
determined during the next four years ... and the new president and other
policy-makers need to understand the thoughts and concerns of people."
We get the first opportunity to give public opinions next Thursday.
> ON THE WEB: For more information: www.atlantaonthenet
.org.
Our columnist on the business community
e-mail:
holsen@mindspring.com
GRAPHIC: Photo
Georgia Tech
President Wayne Clough will host the first meeting of the Internet Policy
Institute.
LOAD-DATE: September 10, 2000
