If the American public could elect a governing body for the Internet, candidates would include the pope, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, teachers, ex-hackers and "regular folks," according to the first major study of public attitudes about accountability on the Internet, to be released Monday by the Markle Foundation, a non-profit group that focuses on public policy and technology.
The ever-expanding citizenry of the Internet -- 63 percent of American adults now go online, up from 39 percent in 1998, according to the report -- is not likely to have that opportunity anytime soon. But Markle's year-long inquiry found that Americans would like to have significantly more say in the rules that govern the Internet.
Not only that, but they would like a variety of people and institutions to pitch in, and members of focus groups suggested a range of participants in a hypothetical national commission.
"There is a strong desire on the part of the public to have their values respected as the technology developed, and some markers laid out as to what those values are," Markle's president, Zoe Baird, said. "People are looking for more democratic decision-making in a medium that has such widespread consequences for our personal and civic lives."
That may mean finding a way to wield public influence in decisions about privacy, the quality of information and consumer protection, power now typically left to business executives and technologists who design software, Baird said, because in many ways technology has replaced government as the main regulator of online behavior.
Markle's study, which included telephone and online polling and focus groups of the public and of Internet experts, found enormous enthusiasm for the Internet, with 83 percent of those who use it having a positive view and 79 percent saying it had made their lives easier.
But the zeal was tempered by the view of about half of those surveyed that the Internet is a "source of worry" because of concerns that include pornography, privacy violations and poor connection speeds. Fifty-nine percent of those polled said they did not know whom they would turn to if they had a problem.
Many focus-group participants wished for the equivalent of the safety net that exists for credit-card fraud, a phone number they can call when their cards are stolen or there is a billing error.
Seventy percent said users have to question what they read on the Internet, and more than half -- 54 percent -- said they did not believe they had the same rights and protections online as off.
To some extent, the frustrations are a reflection of the impersonal nature of the Internet. It is hard to imagine a single help line for the myriad problems one can encounter.
Among the experts on the focus groups, a common view was that individual rights carried over to the Internet, but that traditional safeguards, like the ability to size up a store by its location and appearance, do not exist.
The desire to make the Internet more closely mirror the world off-line was underscored by the response to the much debated issue of taxation, where 60 percent said that online purchases should be taxed, despite the efforts of some lawmakers and Web sites to keep the Internet tax-free.
Still, the sharp frustrations amid the general embrace of the Internet raise concern that the medium may not live up to its potential unless the public has a sense of more control over its choices, Baird said.
Although 60 percent of those surveyed said rules for governing the Internet should be mostly developed and enforced by the private sector, 64 percent also said that "government should develop rules to protect people" on the Internet.
Baird, who has been working with standard-making bodies and world governments to establish forums in which companies, governments, nonprofit groups and public representatives can be heard on questions of Internet policy, said the report reinforced the need to build that constituency before an "online oil spill" alienates the public.
But not everyone agrees that the Internet needs more regulation. Esther Dyson, the former chairman of the Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, the agency that controls the Internet address system, said that users, not a governing body, could best govern the Internet, through which Web sites they visit and which goods they buy.
"I've found people want democracy, but they're often unwilling to do the work, whether it's looking at voting records or taking the most basic measures to protect their own privacy," said
Dyson, who serves on a committee that is trying to increase public representation in ICANN. "Frankly, sometimes you don't need democracy. You need a market where people understand what's being offered and choose what they want."
Still, both positions could be heard in the response of a young focus-group participant from Syosset, New York, when asked who should make the rules that govern the Internet. "We should," the participant said. "The people."
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary