Big Companies Dominate the Net

By: Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer (AP) William Goldsmith operates a niche radio station online, completely funded by himself and his audience. Jimmy Wales runs a Web encyclopedia where readers submit and edit the entries.

Plenty of noncommercial activities exist on the Internet, and plenty more are in the works. Within a decade, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology plans to offer most of its course materials for free on the Internet.

Yet the busiest Web sites belong to AOL Time Warner, Microsoft, and Yahoo! -- not the eclectic, individualistic, or other noncommercial sites that underscore the Net's unique ability to give the masses a voice.

Measurements taken in March by Jupiter Media Metrix show that the three companies control how users spend nearly half their time online.

Credit advertising and marketing might.

"The Internet does offer this enormous potential, which is clearly unrealized," said Don Hazen, executive editor of AlterNet.org, a site devoted to alternative news perspectives. "Unless we figure out a way to market in some of the ways the big corporations do, our traffic will stay modest."

Wales' Wikipedia encyclopedia, with entries on culture, science, and current events, has about 450 regular contributors. Goldsmith's Radio Paradise station draws 60,000 monthly listeners to its blend of different music genres.

By contrast, AOL Time Warner sites had 84 million U.S. visitors in October, according to Jupiter.

Some public-interest organizations believe it's time to create a digital commons -- something akin to public radio -- where noncommercial forces can congregate.

Otherwise, said Laurie Racine of the Center for the Public Domain, "we are just going to end up with a series of tolls along the pathway to information."

Lawrence Grossman, former PBS and NBC News president, and Newton Minow, former head of the Federal Communications Commission, recommended in April that some $18 billion from the sale of public airwaves be set aside for education.

The money could, for instance, fund a simulated field trip to Mars for school children or an electronic model of the human for medical students.

Others suggest reserving some Internet bandwidth -- both terrestrial and wireless -- for nonprofit efforts.

Private corporations could pitch in by creating a "public" icon on Web browsers and developing other ways for users to easily access the public space, said Andrew Shapiro, author of "The Control Revolution," a book about empowering individuals through the Net.

Some public spaces exist now. The University of North Carolina hosts iBiblio, where scholars and hobbyists can store archives on biblical Greek, folk songs, and other topics. But co-director Paul Jones said funding is always a challenge.

The concerns aren't universal, either.

Users are the ones choosing where they go, and they are choosing the carefully packaged content offered by commercial sites, said Esther Dyson, a technology investor and commentator.

Jim Cashel, editor of the Online Community Report newsletter, said corporations have been just as important in promoting communities for individuals to share information and ideas. As a result, he said, "there are far more vibrant communities online today than ever before."

On the Net:

Public domain group: http://www.centerforthepublicdomain.org