Cass Sunstein (2002) observed that the promise of the Internet to provides people in all walks of life with greater access to more information than could have been imagined two decades ago is a double-edged sword. If realized as the potential of the Internet is envisioned, a better informed public could create a more just society. Conversely, Sunstein (2002) points out that the same technology could stifle public discourse by allowing users of the Internet to have all information delivered via the Internet ôtailoredö so that, if desired, an individual would never encounter ideas or opinions with which they disagree.
Patelis (1999) contends, however, that commercialism and overt regulation of the Internet are crippling the promise of the Internet in its infancy even for those people who want to use the medium to improve society and themselves. Commercialization of the Internet leads to control of information, a crowding out of non-commercial information and information that is not controlled by commercial interests, and access costs that exclude millions of potential users of the Internet (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Neuman, & Robinson, 2001). Overt regulation of the Internet can lead to a stifling of public dissent, allow governmental misconduct to be hidden behind a veil of secrecy, and grant power to control the functioning of the Internet to favored corporate interests (Townsend, 2001).
Other critics of the evolution of the Internet perceive access disparities within the context of a social divide. Some of these critics view the so-called digital divide as an economic chasm, which others see it as a racial or ethnic Berlin Wall (Gurstein, 2003).
Based on the conflicting perceptions of the evolution of the Internet, this study examined the extent to which the promise of the Internet has been fulfilled. As a part of this examination, the following research questions were investigated:
1. What effect does commercialization...