Word: summited
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Organized by the online industry with prodding from the White House, the summit managed to draw an impressive and diverse array of pressure groups into its tent, as well as Al Gore, Janet Reno (both originally scheduled to speak on the day she was to announce whether he would be saddled with an independent prosecutor, much to the press's interest), sundry lesser Cabinet members, Congresspeople, lobbyists, academics and law-enforcement officials. All were united by a single goal: a genuine--if also, in many cases, self-interested--desire to protect kids. Missing were the kind of sparks...
...Internet into a genuine mass medium and make a real pile of money is to convince the public that it is a clean and well-lighted place. The industry's mantra has been "Patience! Technological refinements will soon be able to protect everyone's interests." This is why the summit opened with demos of various programs that can block out unwanted Websites and E-mail or provide parents with a log of what their kid has been doing on the computer. "This has sometimes seemed more like a trade show than a summit," complained Barry Steinhardt of the A.C.L.U...
Away from the microphones, one of the summit's more prominent voices gave it a slightly more cynical spin: Now Congressman So-and-So can go to the Christian Coalition and talk technology, technology, technology. Not that there aren't still a few bugs. Many of the software programs block out innocuous Websites as well as toxic ones; others are cumbersome or do unpleasant things to your computer's operating system. Many in the online industry are touting a new "platform for Internet content selection" (PICS) system that is a kind of V chip for the Internet. But as participants...
Lacking answers, the summit wound down with a panel of actual children--a cute if predictable stunt. Onstage with their parents and teachers before a ballroom full of strange, faceless adults, the kids readily assured us that they do all they can to avoid naughty material on the Net. They were perhaps a bit more credible when talking about the genuine fun you can have online--a notion that may have escaped many of their listeners. The president of a Website company bet that if I asked summit participants what they used the Internet for, most would say nothing...
...more reports on the Internet/Online Summit, see our Website at time.com