00267 the internet and society

Maria das Graças Targino

Artigo

The Internet and Society
JUST ANOTHER DREAM?

Maria das Graças TARGINO

THE INTERNET AND SOCIETY: JUST
ANOTHER DREAM?
Doctoral Degree Candidate in Information Science
University of Brasília, DF, Brazil

Universidade de Brasília. Faculdade de Estudos Sociais e Aplicados. Departamento de
Ciência da Informação e Documentação. Curso de Doutorado em Ciência da Informação.
Campus Universitário. Asa Norte. Caixa Postal 04561. 70910-970 Brasília - DF, Brasil.
FONE: (061) 348-2422 ou 348-2840. FAX: (061) 273-8454

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Av. Pres. Kennedy, 650
São Cristóvão
64052-800 Teresina _ PI
Brazil
FONE/FAX: (086) 232-1007

Abstract
Scientific and technological progress has always had society as an essential element. Based on this principle
social impacts upon Brazilian reality caused by Internet as an electronic information network with the strongest
penetrating power worldwide are discussed. Initially general information of the nature of Internet, its history,
evolution and services are presented. Social impacts are listed and discussed, in spite of the analysis being
impaired by the complexity underlying every social process, and of the scarcity of data regarding the network
recent utilization and its consequences in Brazil, due to its rather recent implementation and fast expansion,
without systematic follow-through and evaluation parameters. Conclusions, recommendations and a list of
bibliographical references follow as the final part.

INTERNET - SOCIAL IMPACTS
ELECTRONICAL NETWORKS - SOCIAL IMPACTS
INFORMATION AND SOCIETY

Portuguese Translation
O avanço científico e tecnológico tem sempre a sociedade como referente. Com base nesse princípio, discorre-se
sobre os impactos sociais da Internet na realidade brasileira, como rede eletrônica de informações, hoje, de
maior penetração em níveis mundiais. De início, apresentam-se informações genéricas sobre redes, histórico,
evolução e serviços da Internet. Os impactos sociais são arrolados e discutidos, ainda que a análise seja
dificultada pela complexidade subjacente a qualquer processo social, como também pela incipiência de dados
referentes à utilização e repercussão da Rede no Brasil, decorrente de sua implementação relativamente recente e
de sua expansão acelerada, sem parâmetros sistemáticos de acompanhamento e avaliação. Seguem
considerações finais, recomendações e a bibliografia consultada.

I


INTERNET - IMPACTOS SOCIAIS
REDES ELETRÔNICAS - IMPACTOS SOCIAIS
INFORMAÇÃO E SOCIEDADE

II


THE INTERNET AND SOCIETY: JUST
ANOTHER DREAM?
Doctoral Degree Candidate in Information Science
University of Brasília, DF, Brazil

INTRODUCTION
In society´s present stage, wherein the so-called fourth wave of economic growth is
emerging, knowledge becomes the mainspring of the economy, so much so that with the increased
value of knowledge we witness “info-wars” over control of knowledge. We are witnessing a
vast increase in the production of discourse, besides the constant changes in their technological
support. There is visible competition for publicity of such discourses in an attempt to reach the
largest possible audience. Such a battle results in a proliferation of data and texts. The amount of
hard copy information doubles every eight years. About one thousand books are published
throughout the world every day. In the last three decades alone, a volume of new information was
produced that was nine thousand times larger than all the publications of the five thousand
previous years1. Just in the United States (USA) in 1992, about 50,000 titles were published, in
addition to an incalculable number of general and specialized periodicals, communications etc.2,
not to mention the so-called underground literature.
If, on the threshold of the 21st century, post-modernism culture holds sway and information
figures as a quaternary sector of the economy, it is unreasonable to attribute to techno-science the
command of the historical process. Information technologies cannot be disassociated from social
practices, since no technology appears as an autonomous and independent “corpus”. Science
and technology emerge from society and are applied within society, incorporating the dynamism
inherent in social processes. The great technological revolution moves forward pari passu with the
history of humanity. Scientific and technological progress always have society as a point of
reference - there is harmony between the historical

continuum of civilizations and the

sociocultural and scientific mentality. Under such a perspective, the quaternary sector, having

1


science and technology elements present, becomes universal, without limits or boundaries,
safeguarded by anonymity and extrapolating space and time. Professionals from all fields agree
that in view of the sweeping rhythm of technology and the massive emission of data, electronic
information networks, neural and unplanned architectures, are primordial. They confront the
hypervelocity of the changes, making possible the retrieval of millions of pieces of information
previously unattainable or attainable only after a long period of time, by distinct factors such as:
country or institution of origin; form of dissemination; precariousness of the publishing process.
Therefore, the Internet, the world´s largest representative electronic network, is part of the
panorama of the new information and communications technologies, interacting with social
practices and with the very historical evolution of complex societies. Our objective here is to
discuss the social impacts of the Internet in the context of Brazil, without any concerns of a
technical order regarding available tools and services, or operational aspects, despite the
initial qualitative and even quantitative data referring to the repercussion of the network in Brazil,
resulting from its recent implementation and its rapid expansion, without parameters for monitoring
or evaluating it.

2


THE INTERNET - GENERAL INFORMATION

Along with the other non-commercial international networks, such as the Unix to Unix
Copy Program (UUCP); the Because It´s Time NETwork or Because It´s There Network
(BITNET), the Internet is the one that is most widely found throughout the world and nationally
and the one mostly used by the Brazilian academic community. No “true story” can be written
about it, in the light of the amplitude of the conceptual dimensions which represent more a
consensus of ideas, gentlemen´s agreements and the result of contemporaneous technological
trends rather than a tangible “object”. Even so, it is known that it began in 1969, as an initiative
of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), under the name ARPAnet, at the height of
the Cold War and the Cuban Blockade, for the purpose of increasing arms research and
production in the United States. The idea was to set up a bomb-proof network connecting
strategic points such as research centers, in order to continue to operate as an independent
communications system, even if Washington were to be the victim of a nuclear attack. The solution
was to be a totally decentralized network whose nodes would all have the same status, in order to
allow replacing any computer that would be destroyed 3,4.
Consequently, in 1975, it passed under the control of the American Department of Defense,
serving as the foundation of the program of information networks related to National Defense. In
1983, the ARPAnet split into ARPAnet and Milnet, also military. Meanwhile, other networks
appeared with their own purposes. The Computer and Science Network (CSnet) and the
National Science Foundation Network (NSFnet), both during the ´80s aimed at connecting
scientists to the major American computer centers, incorporating academic and scholarly
networks. The BITNET, started in 1981, absorbed the CSnet to give way to the Corporation
for Research and Educational Networking (CREN). It remains active as an international
educational network, but is losing more and more users, due to the decreasing costs of the
Internet connections.
This is because of the basic principle of ARPAnet which optimized resources by
interconnecting networks, and the Internet consolidated itself as a major network of networks.
Thus its name. The Internet is a chain of networks of distinct natures and dimensions, turning

3


itself into a major dynamic being that communicates at amazing speeds and in real time5, all
within a hierarchical structure - institutional, state, regional, national and international networks.
These networks “dialogue” in various fashions, ranging from a simple telephone line to optical
fibers. However, since the basic principle of a computerized network is its communication
capabilities that require the use of a communications protocol, that is, standardized norms which
make dialogue among the machines possible, the Internet networks employ the Transmission
Control Protocol/Interworking Protocol (TCP/IP), a protocol that allows connection between
computers that link up with physical networks having distinct technologies. However, even by
adopting other protocols, networks such as BITNET, DECnet, FIDOnet interact with the
Internet, thanks to special gateways. In practice, the user needs only a telephone line and a
modem that transforms the digital codes for overwire traffic in order to interact with the network.
Although the figures may vary among authors, everyone agrees that the surprising thing is
not the size of the Internet but its growth rate, higher than any other form of communication in
human history. This explosion is the result of distinct factors, such as the fact that it is easy to use.
Another element contributing to this expansion is the commercial use of the network, despite
protests made agains “raw capitalism” and the prohibition of its commercial use in the USA until
1991. Commercial use is in vogue in almost all the countries in the network. There are more than
20,000 companies, with 2,000 more joining up each month, so that any business or manufacturer
can put its products on the network and sell them to customers in remote places. This market has
also grown very much. In 1993, 70 million dollars, 476 million in 1994 and 1.5 billion expected
for this year, with the presence of major companies such as General Motors, Pizza Hut and Visa.6
The Internet brings together in this virtual world about 146 countries from the five
continents, 10,000 networks and 15 million users, involving more than two million computers7.
From 1994 until now, it has expanded by about 300% and now includes more than 40 million
users. In 1995, it is expected to grow by 900% which is the equivalent of “. . . almost four
new users for every baby born in the world in 1995”, since “130,000 new users join the
network every day, or 5,416 every hour.” 6:48-49
In Brazil, access to the Internet is controlled by the National Research Network (RNP)
founded in 1990 under the direction of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) and

4


managed by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
The RNP was created to maintain and expand a network service for the country´s modernization
program. It operates in 23 Brazilian states, linking about 550 institutions, mostly universities and
research centers, plus military, government and non-governmental organizations. However, in
January of this year it was announced that the state-owned Brazilian Telecommunications
Company (EMBRATEL) would be taking over the management of the RNP, and therefore of the
Internet, which would come under the Ministry of Communications. Within this context of
uncertainty, this Ministry formed a committee to administer the network under its direct
coordination and with representatives of the MCT and of the major users mentioned above. Brazil
also officially joined the Internet commercial service in May, 1995, and including by way of
experiment in Infoserv (business information service) companies such as Mappin, Grupo Objetivo
and Globo Informática.
In reality, we do not know what all this may mean for the users, who lack trust in
government intervention and are protesting this move which goes against what made the Internet
strong: free and democratic territory. Besides the situation of a monopoly, there is also the
aggravating fact that EMBRATEL ignored it when it was not firmly implanted as a viable and
powerful entity: currently there are more or less 50 thousand Brazilian users, despite regional,
state and institutional differences. Furthermore, one of the first moves made by the government
was to limit new users to a maximum of 1,000 for a period of four months, until April. The
negative reaction forced the government-owned company to promise that, beginning in May,
1995, access service would be extended to include those registered at the rate of 500 a week.
According to company figures at the end of April about 20,000 users had been registered,
although EMBRATEL had promised to connect 30,000 by the end of the year. And, perhaps to
satisfy its critics, the Official Government Journal of April 24, 1995 published a note from the
Communications Services Secretariat of the Ministry of Communications requesting
suggestions from the public regarding network conditions, including commercial use.
The basic services provided by the Internet include: (a) electronic or e-mail,8 which
consists of message exchange among various users simultaneously or within a predetermined
group. Among its applications are interest groups (forums for specific topics); news services

5


(changes in discussion lists); (b) file transfer (File Transfer Protocol allows the transfer of any
files between network computers; (c ) remote access or remote login allows the user to
connect with any computer in any network of the Internet, with benefits such as on-line
searching in any of the databases incorporated into the Internet (more than 500); the Bulletin
Board System (BBS) which operates as a separate service or as a login application abstracting
and disseminating information in real time concerning various topics; interactive conversation
(dialogue, also in real time among two or more users simultaneously connected). Innovations will
become available with the continued implementation of information technologies. For example,
there is the incorporation of the multimedia system in the electronic mail environment and that of
the National Research and Education Network (NREN) intends to include it by means of
interlinking more than a million computers in all 50 American states.

6


INTERNET - SOCIAL IMPACTS

The Internet’s influence on information dissemination is decisive. It provides a new
distributive information model, dynamic and hypertextual, in that it meets the needs of the user, no
longer in a linear fashion, but respecting its cognitive structure. Such dynamism presupposes
agility, precision, completeness and consistency. These changes are reflected in the means of mass
communication. They inform, form and deform. They stimulate a consumer society. They
consolidate ties of dependency. They encourage massification of habits, customs and attitudes,
under a vertical perspective, that is, in an in-formative model, in which the sender manipulates
the transmission probabilities of the data. The Internet, in turn, points toward the perspective of
demassification of society9, within a co-informative model, with a horizontal and vertical structure
in which senders and receivers interact. It tends toward directional or democratic communication
that units common interest groups, in which respect for the individual and his or her agenda
predominates. The Internet is configured as a truly democratic forum, where one´s profession,
race, age, sex, religion, status in society etc. is not important. The messages are all treated the
same with consideration given only to the mode and context of expression10, which justifies the
insatisfaction caused by the intervention of EMBRATEL. Persons have the full right to disseminate
their information or retrieve data that interests them. Without inhibition, independent of frontiers
and laws, they are exploring the almost infinite possibilities of cybernetic space, whose “streets”
are travelled in seconds, making real time dialogues possible, regardless of distance or peculiarities
of the persons.
It may be argued that, for the scientific community, the virtually infinite amount of data
available through the Internet cause problems of selection and learning the mechanisms for using
the resources. This trend is contrary to the elementary principles of network information services,
that attempt to answer requests in record time and in a form as friendly as possible 11. Thus, even
though it would be impossible to list all of the social potential of the Internet, we may make
projections based on the fact that “the proliferation of information technology is making
daily life easier for individuals in some ways, more difficult in others, but certainly
different” 2:232

7


The Quaternary Sector of the Economy
At the macro level, the Internet, like other information technologies, has contributed to the
consolidation of the quaternary sector of the economy, which includes activities related to the
information and knowledge industry, whose professionals, like any other worker, are subject to
changes in their world and, therefore to technological innovations. For Daniel Bell, Alvin Toffler,
Marc Porat and Fritz Machlup, the economy prevails as the dominant element in society. The
argument of these Americans is based on statistics regarding the percentage of the Gross
National Product (GNP) earmarked for information, and the labor force involved in the
quaternary sector. From this point of view, the new technologies automatically involve economic
impacts, but are not disassociated from the other social processes.
The quaternary sector interacts with the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors.
Technological progress is decisive in the sociocultural process, reinforcing the effect of information
technology in the modern means of communication that act as factors for setting social, economic,
political and cultural changes in motion. But it is society that allows this to happen serving as
support to innovations. Therefore it would be senseless to accept any form of determinism,
whether of economic or technological nature. This is because technology is only one more
productive force, the fruit of societal evolution, whose basic product is knowledge, serving the
interests of humanity to dominate nature and its existential problems. Therefore, the quaternary
space determined by new technologies is not superimposed on the human condition, culture or
society.
In sum, in the measure that new technologies are imposed as a factor of social and cultural
changes, the economic aspect stands out, with the replacement of the industrial society paradigm
by the post-industrial society, whose economic axis is the production and spread of information
and knowledge. This is what characterizes present-day societies and is the seed of other social
changes, since the economic element is basic in the contemporary capitalist world, permeating the
transformations that occur in the natural environment and on the sociocultural scene, such as the
globalization of markets, transnationalization of cultural practices, labor relations, new forms of
leisure and consumption, the valuation of private life and the weakening of public order.

8


Democratization of information vs. Political-Economic Dependence
The features of the Internet as a democratic space brings advantages that complement
each other: (a) ease of organization and dissemination of large amounts of information, at
high speeds; (b) encouragement of cooperation in joint actions in order to optimize human
resources, financial and information materials; (c) popularizing of information, since anyone
who is plugged into the Internet can retrieve in almost no time at all a almost infinite amount of
information; (d) social leveling, since social stratification gives way (at least in theory) to similar
opportunity for all to satisfy their needs; (e) less rigidity in administrative hierarchies, since
staff members can now access information which previously was for the privileged few.
In Brazil, however, the present democratization of information and the less unequal social
stratification are more apparent than real. In the first place, information management continues to
be subject to governmental or private enterprise criteria, without interference from the general
public. Secondly, the contrasts existing among the various “Brazils” persist. As one example
among many, EMBRATEL has connected São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro by optical fiber. Here
we have a country that is using optical fibers, but lacks telephones with people waiting up to two
years for their telephone. Only 19 in each 100 residences have a telephone and only about 60.000
residences have cable TV. With the State controlling telephone service (at least until now) a
telephone line costs as much as 5,000 dollars in comparison to the prices in the developed
countries which are laughable 12. For Tofler 13, even in worldwide terms, the poor distribution of
telecommunications reaches levels that are more drastic than the poor distribution of food: there
are 600 million telephones, 450 million of which are found in just nine countries. And the unequal
distribution of computers, data banks, techno-scientific publications, resources for research are
more expressive statistics than figures relating to the GNP regarding the interrelationship of
society, information and development.
Moreover, it is not enough to have access to an information circuit in order to participate in
public decisions. Many Brazilians receive information through the mass communication media. But
the majority remain on the margin of public debate, since they have not learned the meaning of the
facts. Indifferent to technological progress, the predominant socio-economic stage of the
population corresponds to the evolution from the oral state to the audiovisual state, without even

9


having learned to read. Because of this, the Internet will only act as a democratizing agent in the
degree that it incorporates into its universe of users, all those who always remain on the margin of
social processes, such as: the poor; the aged; the illiterate or recently literate; minority racial and
ethnic groups. What appears to be utopian is the seeking of the true meaning of the terms
democracy, citizenship and quality of life14,15, aimed at strengthening the principle of universal
access.
Also, since the Internet favors the academic/scientific/technological community its
social responsibility is broader, in the light of the isolationism of Brazilian universities and research
institutes. With rare exceptions, they are indifferent to community concerns. The teacherresearcher must bring his work closer to the public, by publishing not only in “high level”
periodicals but also in the popular media in simpler language in order that the opportunity which
the Internet provides to immediately access information from other nations on the international
circuit may be used to advantage by Brazilian society.
Contrary to the vision just mentioned, there are those who attribute to the Internet the risk
of the transnational public space engendered by technological development tending toward
elitism and inequality16. The indiscriminate transfer of technologies and information reinforces
the political and economic dependence of countries. It threatens their cultural identity. Linguistic
universalization, for example, with English becoming the universal language of the scientific and
computer communities, in addition to eliminating in an authoritative and artificial manner cultural
and ethnic differences, can imply the death of languages that do not modernize themselves. The
more economically powerful nations continue to dictate the directions of humanity, as they
predetermine the perspectives of the development process. It is affirmed2 in an analysis of
information technology in the business world that the USA has the chance to regain its position as
a world economic power with the new information technologies and the changes resulting
therefrom.

10


Ethical Use of Information
Another aspect requiring attention in the Internet context is the ethical use of
information. There are no pre-determined standards of behavior. However, several authors3,5
are concerned with strengthening what they refer to as netiquette - network + etiquette, as a
means of providing an appropriate posture for the network in order to ensure its credibility. Any
social group, without exception, has implicit or explicit rules of behavior. It is impossible to allow
technical evolution to move along without accompanying current social values. Responsibility and
non anonymity could be the maximum normative principle. This, because along with the innocent
cybernetic romances and electronic friendships, the number of abuses has exploded. The
increasing insertion of pornography, for example, has reached alarming proportions, along with the
use of vile language. Approximately 50 racist groups have used the Internet to preach violence
against blacks, foreigners, jews, homosexuals and other minority groups. Viruses are being
introduced, destroying individual and institutional files. In the USA, a boy from the state of
Missouri made a bomb following instructions that he received on-line. The Zapatist rebels in
Mexico use the Internet for sending messages, and it is also thought that the drug traffic also
makes use of the network, which has moved the BBS coordinators to systematically sift through
some electronic correspondence in order to control and prevent such practices. More caution is
necessary in the case of Brazil. The rapid expansion of the Internet, without guidelines in a
context marked by profound differences, wherein misery exists side by side with technological
sophistication, can greatly influence moral and ethical values.

11


Authorship vs. Consistency of Information
The question of authorship and intellectual property must be also examined.
Information disseminated electronically and a “paperless society” imply relevant legal problems
that are rarely questioned

17

. They call for a restructuring of authorship, in conceptual and legal

terms. Messages put on the circuit without the pretension of wide circulation, but with the intention
of receiving feedback for improving initial ideas and/or as a way of guaranteeing authorship, are
forming the basis for new studies 8,11.
This fact in itself is serious. In the first place, in most cases there is no authorization or
knowledge of user-author. Secondly, it denotes unconcern with the nature of the information, data
reliability and consistency, perhaps due to its instantaneity, volatibility and complexity of storage.
The records do not pass through a quality filter, giving priority to the quantitative growth of the
network, to the detriment of the qualitative aspects and social impacts15,18. This has repercussions
on the information cycle, with many risks of deformation and insecurity that virtual reality in its
various modalities (banks, libraries, shopping centers etc.) may cause among members of society.
Connected to this question regarding message consistency, like the case of exaggerated
“xeroxing”, the uncritical use of electronic information can aggravate the trend toward the
horizontalizing of reading, jeopardizing the educational process. The probability of an overall vision
of a theme is lessened and interest is lost in more profound, basic works or those of classic
content, that are indispensable to professional education.
Privacy vs Impersonal Relations
Based on the premise that the public sphere is the place where everyone interacts, it is
inferred that the Internet exercises the function of an agent of this space, which is consolidated
beginning with the expansion of the private sphere. However, if there are advantages, such
technological possibilities compromise cultural enrichment, in proportion that the vigor of each of
the spheres weakens. They confer on everything that is subjective the appearance of objectivity
and publicity. For many, the Internet invades the privacy of individuals. What is intimate
becomes public and public issues are discussed in the world of the intimate. We are reaching a
stage “x” in which the history of the lives of people and institutions are reconstituted in database

12


records. To the degree that companies become more and more dependent on electronics, the
entire business system becomes more vulnerable as a target for information services. 13
In the same way, there is a reduction in face to face contacts which eliminates the
potential for mutually enriching exchanges by means of body language, tone of voice and even the
use of paper. To minimize the lack of emotion in these impersonal relations , many users of the
Internet have recourse to emotion icons or funny faces. However, by way of an opposite
position, there are those who attribute to the network the gift of diminishing the solitude of
persons, by favoring contacts with individuals in other distant countries, and as the only
opportunity for exchanging experiences 4. And, in fact, virtual friendships and electronic romances
with partners who are never seen increase significantly.

13


FINAL COMMENTS
Discussions of this nature do not provide for hard conclusions. Even so, it is said that the
Internet expands a new basis for social cohesion electronically, able to promote new forms of
symbolic participation and forming of the social conscience. It (re)affirms the post-industrial
paradigm. Its social effects, in terms of Brazil, are diffused, diversified and complex. But it implies
radical changes in the lives of individuals and social groups. It allows them to satisfy their
information needs more quickly, more accurately, and above all, in the context of massification.
However, it is necessary to reject the magical aura that appears, by considering the following
assertion “. . . The notion of an international i formation revolution is nothing but
n
ideological rhetoric”

18:355

. The author of the statement demonstrates with qualitative and

quantitative data the inequalities in the use of information, using the Internet itself as a point of
reference. While use in the USA in 1992 reached 94.94%, in Brazil it was a paltry 0.10%.
It is possible that this significant difference does not result only from the fact that the USA
hosts the managerial databases. In Brazilian terms, the resistance is almost always cultural and
educational, when one fears the loss of privacy because of data bank controls or when one
considers the Internet as an element capable of exacerbating social inequalities, allowing the few
privileged ones contact with the wealthier and more developed world, excluding the absolute
majority of Brazilians condemned to isolation. As a result, access to the Internet requires a solid
scientific culture. This stimulates individual participation in the country´s collective life, with the full
exercise of citizenship, which calls for awareness and discernment. If not, the network will not
serve as a public sphere strictu sensu. In any case Brazil needs to establish priorities in every
region and state based on the people´s quality of life. It is urgent to analyze to what point massive
investments in telecommunication and telematic infrastructures are valid, to the detriment of other
sectors such as health, sanitation, public transportation, education, farm production. Without
defending divisive tendencies a balance should be sought to ensure that the socially

and

economically disadvantaged receive the same rights to information under the broad principle of
universal access.

14


In sum, it is impossible to ignore the inequality existing between societies that have
information and the monopoly of the production of these technologies and societies such as Brazil
remaining destined to use them without questions, making their citizens be conformists in their daily
life. The technological gap corresponds, inevitably, to the knowledge gap which, in turn, generates
a cultural gap until it reaches the level of a gap even in human awareness. In this sense, the
INTERNET may act as an instrument of alienation. Much more than the information revolution 18,
it may serve, within the context of SOCIETY, as ideological rhetoric: ONE MORE DREAM utopia for many and reality for a few. This is so because if the world has changed, the idea of
democracy cannot be replaced by a technocracy, at the cost of exploitation of the many, working
for a salary and exploited day by day, those, who in the logic of industry, are worth less than the
machines that produce.

15


RECOMMENDATIONS

To provide the Internet with greater force as an instrument for the democratization of
information in Brazil, it is recommended that: (a) incorporation into the management of the
network, at a consistent and firm level, of predetermined parameters for achieving universal
access; (b) implementation of interfaces and applications that are useful to the general
public; ( c) promotion of changes in the educational system, for training in the use of
information technologies at all levels of instruction, and the process of continuing education; (d)
guarantee of availability of network services, gratis or at a low cost for schools and public
libraries and other non-profit organizations; (e) promotion of interaction among universities
and research centers for the purpose of passing information along to the public; (f) contributing
to netiquette by means of suggestions for standards compatible with the national situation; (g)
attention to integral professional training by means of a permanent critical stance regarding
superficiality of texts or messages; (h) systematic ongoing cost/benefit studies of the
Internet; (i) encouragement of the creation of national or regional institutions destined for
social impact studies of new technologies on the population, or in the case of the Internet, after
the example of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.

16


REFERENCES

1. Wurman RS 1991 Ansiedade de informação. Cultura, SP
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Ridge
3. Dern DP 1994 Internet history and technology: a brief introduction, p. 3-18; Being an
Internet citizen, p. 363-395.The Internet guide for new users, McGraw-Hill, NY
4. The Internet unleashed 1994 SAMS, Indianopolis
5. Kehoe BP 1993 Zen e a arte da Internet. RNP, Brasília
6. Alcântara E 1995 A rede que abraça todo o planeta. Veja 9: 48-58
7. Sussman V 1994 Pamphleteering in the electronic era. US News & World Report 2: 55
8. Burton PF 1994 Electronic mail as an academic discussion forum. Journal of
Documentation 2: 99-110
9. Sichel BM 1981 A tecnologia e a informação. UFRJ/ECO, RJ
10. Rede Nacional de Pesquisa 1993 Redes. RNP, Brasília
11. Atkinson R 1993 Networks, hypertext, and academic information services: some longerrange implications. College & Research Libraries 3: 199-215
12. Martins I 1994 Eis a estrada do futuro. Exame 11: 48-53
13. Tofler A 1990 Powership: Knowledge, wealth and violence at the edge of the 21st
century. Bantam Books, NY
14. Doctor RD 1992 Social equity and information technologies: moving toward information
democracy. ARIST 27: 43-96
15. Palmquist RA 1992 The impact of information technology on the individual. ARIST 27: 3-42
16. Mignot-Lefebvre Y 1994 Technologies de communication et dínformation: une nouvelle
donne internationale? Revue Tiers-Monde 138: 245-277
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línformation et droit de la preuve. OJTI, Paris

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18. Jacobson TL 1994 Les messageries électroniques et les services dans les pays du tiers
monde. Revue Tiers Monde 138: 343-355

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00267 the internet and society

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