The Auto Channel Belief That The Internet is a Library, Not a Shopping Mall Is Correct According to a Markle Foundation Report.

Here are some excerpts from the massive study titled, "Toward a Framework for Internet Accountability," being released here Tuesday morning by the Markle Foundation, as reported in The Standard. The New York-based philanthropy commissioned Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research to poll the general public and "Internet experts" on their attitudes about the Internet and various related public policy issues.

The Internet is still very popular with the American public, who regard the medium more as a useful information source than as an electronic shopping mall or stock exchange. "The Internet is an increasingly important part of the lives of the American people," says Zoe Baird, the foundation's president. "This research shows that they have an appreciation for the complexities involved in tackling the critical questions that will affect decisions about the Internet."

Even though Internet privacy has been pushed aside for the time being on Capitol Hill, the study reports that both the public and experts tend to prefer more government regulation of data privacy. And with a federal moratorium on e-commerce sales taxes set to expire in October, the study finds that 60 percent of public respondents don't think that online sales should be exempt from taxation.

Broadly, the study concludes that most Americans would prefer the Internet to be regulated by a mix of government, nonprofit and industry efforts. The study is based mostly on information gathered last year – from a series of focus group sessions, a survey of "Internet experts" such as Internet executives and software engineers, and a national online survey of more than 1,000 adults. The data was updated with a telephone survey last month of more than 2,000 likely voters. As of October, 82 percent of the respondents saw the Internet as an engine of economic growth.

Last month's survey results showed that number dipped a bit, but not much, to 75 percent. But at the same time, 45 percent of the general public surveyed regard the Internet as most like a library, while just 14 percent saw it as most like a shopping mall and only 3 percent saw it as most like a banking or investment office. The Markle Foundation was formed in 1927 with an endowment from a Pennsylvania coal-mining family. Long associated with mass-media projects such as funding public television, Markle announced in 1999 that it would spend $100 million – more than half its endowment – on Internet projects within five years. Among other things, the foundation has spent money to help the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Last year, Markle funded Web White and Blue, a nonpartisan political site that featured a "rolling cyberdebate" between the presidential campaigns of Al Gore, George W. Bush and several minor party candidates.

In general, the study paints a picture of an American Internet community that is largely white, between the ages of 18 and 64, well-educated, and nervous about online pornography, privacy, and Internet fraud. In fact, those concerns far outweighed concerns about Internet censorship, destructive computer viruses and the specter of a corporate oligopoly rising up to dominate the medium.