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Question 5: The Internet. Getting beyond the hype, what role, if any, should state government play in the development, promotion, use, taxation, and regulation of the Internet? PENTEL Response 5: The internet should be made free and accessable to everyone. The government should play no role in censoring information. The role of government should be to make sure that citizens are protected from invasion of privacy. Through libraries, schools and community centers the government should help close the technological gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" and rich and poor. One the things to be critically cautious about is the commercialization of the internet. The goal of the internet should be the free flow of ideas rather than ideas funneled for profit. Parents should be the responsible parties in filtering information for their children. The government should not play a role in this. The government ought to play a role in making public information easily available through the internet to all citizens including information and reports regarding political campaign contributions, public hearings, pending and proposed legislation and other matters of public record.
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