How to open the internet to all

The internet, is not curently accessible to much of the population. Of the 32 million homes with computers, only seven million have access to the internet, said Oakland Tribune digital specialist Howard Bryant.

"This is a small number of people who are ahead," said Bryant. For this reason, Bryant said, "the information online is not speaking for the populace."

Although panel members agreed with efforts to install internet-equipped computers in public libraries and schools, they admitted that the new technology was not affordable for all.

"(The internet industry) is gearing itself more and more to the affluent," Bryant said. The information highway, he said, could be called a "tollroad".

Mercury Center online managing editor Bruce Koon of the San Jose Mercury News, said beginning April 17, the service will no longer be free on the World Wide Web. The fee, or toll, will be $4.95 a month for access to over 200 stories and the first online comic strip. The success and profitability of the online news service, Koon said, is unknown because it is the first of its kind.

Bryant said it took about 100 years before telephones were in 90 percent of American homes. Of the internet, Bryant said, "If you want it bad enough, you can get it."