The information technology infrastructure continues to wrap itself around our daily lives. A February 1998 survey released by Ekos Research Associates Inc. found that the movement toward an electronic communications household is dramatic in its scope. According to Frank Graves, President of Ekos, this development is "profoundly reshaping basic relationships between individuals and institutions." The study was a joint effort of the federal government and the private sector. It was undertaken to gain an understanding of the "social and economic consequences of the information highway, as opposed to an uni-dimensional look at technology."

 What the survey does show is the way that the Internet is beginning to change the social fabric of our society. It also indicates that people identify the Internet as the information highway. The latter is a term that is increasingly losing currency. Part of the reason for this might be that it is trying to describe a unique phenomenon with metaphors of the culture that preceded it, i.e. the transportation age. The plane, train, automobile and bus have already shaped society into the form we now know. The Internet and other multimedia technologies will shape our society and way of life into forms not yet fully understood.

 The Information and Digital Ages have also brought non-linear technologies as opposed to the technologies of the transportation and communication age. In a linear world we are more fully dependent on rigid structures of time and space. We must work, play or travel together, for example, in designated spaces and specified times, in order to engage in joint activities. In a non-linear medium such as the Internet, we are not dependent on the restrictions of time or space to undergo the function we choose. For example, one can go onto the Internet any time of day or night to do as one wishes, whether it is to send an email, engage in chat, post to a newsgroup, read a listserv, transfer a file, do some research or surf the web. Whatever the activity the Internet is "open" for use. If you want to go down to your local library to do some research or read a book, you are restricted by their hours of operation.

However, there are still vestiges of the linear world on the Internet. At the moment the World Wide Web is acting as a backdrop curtain over the multitude of other features of the Internet. The Web is being used for commercial purposes to develop electronic commerce. Many of the interests on the Web, especially the traditional mass media, such as radio, TV and newspapers, use it as an extension of broadcast medium rather than the interactive medium it is. The successful web sites will be those that reflect the inherent character of the Net itself, i.e. being interactive. Many in governments are aware of this. If they want to deliver services over the Net then the interactive element comes into play.

 However, for the moment the Ekos survey does point to the categories of people using it and the concerns they have about the medium. Ekos found that "…young people, men, the better educated and more affluent, and, to a lesser extent, larger communities are more likely to take advantage of the information highway." When asked if they saw the Internet as a "tool" or a "toy", four times the respondents said they were more likely to choose it as a tool (58%) as opposed to the 17% who said they saw it as a toy. This means that people do perceive this as a knowledge medium and will use it as such.

 The survey did distinguish between the computer and access to the Internet. In their press release on the survey, Ekos said that "(E)ducation related is the primary reason for individuals having a computer and Internet access at home (42 % for computers; 37% for the Internet)."

 This concern over security is not restricted to Canadian surveys. NUA surveys, a web based company out of Europe, also came up with similar findings in recent surveys of what the citizens of the Internet (referred to as Netizens) are worried about.

 The NUA Internet Survey of March 9, 1998, found that "maintaining one's individual privacy online is predominately on every netizen's mind. Securing one's personal details as well as securing one's financial details is seen as a far greater threat to Internet users than pornography or violence on the Net. From a survey conducted by search engine Lycos, netizens who have been online for more than three years are less inclined to be concerned about offensive material than those

who came online in the last year. It's not that there's a higher tolerance for this type of material, it's that people realise it is not (in most cases) directly present unless one looks for it." This points to a simple fact that, once educated about how the medium is used, coupled with the gaining of an understanding of the power (both real and potential) of the Internet, there is a substantial shift in concerns of the individual.

 These findings present an interesting dilemma for legislators and policy makers as they indicate a continuing shift in attitudes of people who populate the Internet.