Cyber Times

Yes, folks, these are cyber times, and that calls for timely cyber strategies

	Certain search engines that used to be relatively unbiased are
now exploiting their users.  For example, if you do a search for 
"non-commercial search engines" at Altavista, you get ADVERTISING 
related to search engines, but no results [Screen Grab].  If you search for a 
saleable product, like "sport utility vehicles" you get advertising 
for CBS sports, and thousands of hits [Screen Grab]. 

	"So what," you may say.  Well, I happen to think it is of some 
consequence that the WWW is turning into a commercially driven yellow 
pages substitute instead of the utopian database that various 
techno-prophets had foreseen.  Is it really so desirable to replace 
textbooks with web access, given these commercial trajectories?  I 
think the web can be useful, to be sure, but the unbridled profit 
seeking that has a hold on the internet right now will not, in my opinion, 
lead to a more enlightened media system than we have right now.