IP: Net is Mainstream and Votes!

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 14:54:31 -0600
From: Donna Hoffman <hoffman () colette ogsm Vanderbilt Edu>
To: farber () central cis upenn edu
__________________________________________________________
Cyberspace to Congress: The Net is Mainstream -- and it Votes!


By Professor Donna L. Hoffman


You would think from the way that Congress is rushing to censor
"indecency" on the Internet that cyberspace is a virtual den of
iniquity and pornographic debasement. In the interests of
promoting a bit more sanity in the halls of Congress, allow me to
offer a few facts about the real nature of the "cyberporn" threat
and about the character of the fast-growing community of Americans
online.


First, let's be clear that what we're really talking about here --
pornography -- actually constitutes an infinitesimally-small
percentage of all online information. Indeed, Marty Rimm's ill
fated study of pornography on the "information superhighway"
revealed that less than 1/2 of 1% of all images on the Internet
were likely to consist of porn.


But never mind that somewhat inconvenient fact. Congress in its
infinitely-debatable wisdom, has chosen to "save" America's
children not by finally fixing our broken school systems -- that,
after all, would be hard and complex work -- but by attempting
instead to shield families from "indecency" (a sure vote-getter).


But guess what? It turns out that the majority of online users are *not*
lonely sex-deprived (or depraved) single males but families! That's right, 
42% of those on the Web are married and another 9% report living with
a partner, while only 41% are single. And 35% of Web-using
households contain children.


What's more, according to the latest GVU/Hermes survey of Web
users, 29 percent of Web users globally are female (the percentage
of female users rises to 33% in the United States), 40% are 36
years old or over, almost a third of the respondents make less
than $30,000 a year, and nearly half make less than $50,000 a
year.


Indeed, the best research available indicates that cyberspace is
increasingly going mainstream. Aside from the strong family
orientation of Internet users -- and the increasing prevalence of
women -- ever more middle-class and working-class people are
joining the ranks of the "wired." Occupationally, more students,
more people in sales and service work, more retired people, and
more people in a more diverse variety of occupations (e.g. day
laborers, crafts people, homemakers and others) are online
everyday, as are people reporting smaller annual household incomes
(especially under than $30,000).


As for the political persuasion of Internet users, the facts are
rather startling. Despite the image of cyberspace as some stomping
ground of the liberal elite, the fact of the matter is that there
are significantly more Republicans and Independents online than
Democrats. And while online users are nearly indistinguishable
from people not online in terms of political party affiliation and
who they voted for in the 1992 Presidential election and 1994
House elections, online users are *much more likely to vote* than
people not online.  Consider the following statistics from the
Times Mirror 1995 Technology in the American Household study:


          


Party Identification and Voting Behavior


Party                   Online  Not Online      
                        Users                           


Democrat                25%             29%     
Independent             43%             40%     
Republican              32%             31%


                        100%            100%    


1992 Presidential Vote (among voters)


Candidate               Online  Not Online      
                        Users                           


Bush                    37%             38%                     
Clinton                 44%             45%             
Perot                   18%             17%


                        100%            100%                    


1994 House Vote (among voters)


Party                   Online  Not Online      
                        Users                           


Democrat                43%             44%                     
Republican              55%             54%                     
Other                   2%              2%


                        100%            100%                    


Percent Who Voted in 1994


Age             Online Users    Not Online


18-29           32%                     15%             
30-49           58%                     46%
50-64           80%                     58%


65+             *                       61%


                100%                    100%


* too few cases to estimate reliably


Source: Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press (now the
Pew Research Center) "Technology in the American Household" 1995
study.




Oh yes, and one other little tidbit for Congress to consider: the
majority of online users *oppose* current efforts to censor
content on the Internet.


Given these figures, one has to wonder if the Republican Congress
is shooting itself in the foot -- alienating precisely the
constituency whose support it will need to win the White House in
1996 -- by voting for a censorship bill that will, according to
virtually all constitutional scholars, in any event probably be
overturned by the courts.


Congress take heed: the citizens of cyberspace represent a
politically diverse and demographically varied voting population.
Attempt to censor them only at your peril.
__________________________________________________________
Donna L. Hoffman is an Associate Professor of Management at
Vanderbilt University and co-directs Project 2000 
(www2000.ogsm.vanderbilt.edu) at the Owen School.