Telecom guru: Internet is giant focus group.

Telecommunications guru Dr. Vinton Cerf was in San Diego recently with a message for the business community: "Pay attention to the Internet. It's the world's biggest focus group."

That is, what's happening on the Internet, that global network of computer networks, is real, not hypothetical, and people's interests are being accurately reflected there.

As a result, the Internet is "the leading edge to a completely new advertising medium," said Cerf, president of the Internet Society and a senior vice president at MCI Communications Corp.

It was an intriguing observation from the man who is known as the father of the Internet, which, until eight years ago, did not allow commercial activities of any kind. Advertising was not only anathema, it was prohibited.

That changed in the late '80s, as the growth of the Internet could no longer be supported by government underwriting alone.

Today, commerce is the fastest-growing sector of the Internet, and advertising is becoming commonplace as the "Net" is on the verge of evolving into the much-touted information superhighway.

"The Internet is a major distribution system of anything that can be put in digital form," Cerf said.

By current estimates, there are about 3.5 million host computers worldwide linked via the Internet, with 7 million direct users, and as many as 30 million people with the ability to at least send and receive electronic mail, or E-mail, via the Internet.

"By the end of the century, 100 million computers will be in the system, and there will be 300 million users," Cerf predicted.

"The government had the foresight to sustain the development of this long enough to reach critical mass."

The sheer magnitude of such numbers has marketers drooling. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, if the promotions are done in a sensible, inoffensive manner, Cerf contends.

"People are very receptive to non-invasive advertising," he said.

The technique most widely accepted is the billboard approach, which, in effect says, "We're here, and if you want additional information about our products or services, inquire within."

The value of the Internet is its interactivity, and the ability to generate automatic responses. An individual can request information, either by clicking on an icon, or sending a request by E-mail, and the response can be automatic, without human intervention.

"This is a boon to the travel industry," Cerf said. "Not only can people see foreign countries from their living room, they can figure out how to get there."

Businesses are growing around the quest for information, whether it's news, archival material in data bases or details on products and services.

Software is being developed around the concept of "knowledge robots" -- also called know-bots or soft-bots. These so-called intelligent agents can be sent out to scour computer data bases and "clip" bits of information based on predetermined parameters.

But Cerf says the information superhighway metaphor is flawed.

"I haven't arm wrestled with the vice president (Al Gore) over this," Cerf said with a chuckle, "but I believe the model is too confining.

"I think that the idea that you build something, and that's it, is very narrow, compared to what's really going on.

"This is a Darwinian-like engine of evolution where everything that's (happening) interacts with everything else that's going on. It's a self-sustaining loop."

Roadblocks to even greater commercial growth, however, are the issues of privacy and security. Some companies are afraid to connect to the Internet, fearing electronic pilfering of sensitive information from their files and their customers' files.

But that fear, Cerf said, has created new business opportunities for the development of what is known as firewall technology -- sophisticated electronic barriers that allow information out, but block unauthorized access.

The next big pushes will be integration of Internet access in public school curricula and in the home, Cerf said.

Elementary school students are sharing information and acting on that information in a matter of minutes, a process that a few years ago would have required a laborious approval process. Parents and teachers are exchanging E-mail, Cerf said.

There are also a number of "freenets," many initiated by municipal governments, emerging throughout the country that provide free or low-cost public access to the Internet and its wealth of informational resources, he pointed out.

"There is a tremendous amount of interest in the use of this technology for human communication," Cerf said. "And it looks like it ain't stoppable."