Business/Technology Editors
ROCHESTER, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2000
Taxation of Internet sales is highly unpopular among America's online community. The results from the most recent Harris Interactive Election 2000 survey indicate that over 80% of America's online community oppose Internet sales taxes at the federal, state or local level. In addition, 65% of the online community believe that a sales tax would decrease online purchases, compared to only 26% of respondents who feel that it would not impact online purchases. When asked whom Internet sales taxes would hurt the most, 54% of respondents felt that a sales tax would hurt consumers while 32% felt it would hurt online businesses. Few (8%) felt the sales tax would hurt traditional businesses. Opinions about Internet sales taxes are consistent across race, education, income and party identification. The online community is highly unified in its dislike for Internet sales taxes. (SEE TABLES 1-3 FOR MORE DETAILS.)
And while many free speech advocates view the Internet as the ultimate medium for promoting free expression, not everyone agrees - particularly online users. Surprisingly, the online population favors:
-- Establishing voluntary or mandatory guidelines for
Internet sites to follow,
-- Allowing public facilities and companies to control the
type of Internet content or sites that patrons or
employees can access, and
-- Requiring PC manufacturers to include a software product
that filters or restricts certain Internet sites or
content on all new PCs.
These findings regarding Internet sales taxes and regulation of Internet content are from the most recent Harris Interactive Election 2000 survey conducted from April 4th to April 10th among 15,331 respondents selected at random from the Harris Interactive Internet panel of more than 5.6 million respondents.
Although four out of every ten (41%) online users believe Internet content should not be regulated, surprisingly almost half (49%) support some type of Internet regulation. Establishing voluntary guidelines for sites to follow is favored by 28% of online users while mandatory guidelines are favored by 21%. The differences in who favors unrestricted versus restricted Internet content are clearly divided along the lines of gender and political identification. A majority (55%) of men favor no government regulation compared to only 29% of women, while Republicans (42%) and Independents (45%) are more likely than Democrats (36%) to favor keeping the government out of the regulation of Internet content. (SEE TABLE 4 FOR MORE DETAILS)
Of those who favor either voluntary or mandatory guidelines for Internet sites, half (51%) would like to see these guidelines take the shape of a rating system, similar to those used by TV and movies. A system that provides a specific definition of content that is or is not acceptable is favored by 39% and 10% are undecided as to what type of guidelines should be established. (SEE TABLE 5 FOR MORE DETAILS)
In addition, online users overwhelmingly favor the ability of public facilities (such as libraries and schools) and companies to control the type of content their patrons or employees can access, with 65% favoring public facilities and 58% favoring companies controlling content. Political identification strongly influences opinions on this issue with Republicans more likely to favor the ability of public facilities or companies to control Internet content compared to Independents and Democrats. (SEE TABLES 6 & 7 FOR MORE DETAILS)
Requiring PC manufacturers to include software that filters or restricts certain types of Internet sites or content also receives support from the online community, with 50% favoring this proposal, 38% opposed to it and 12% undecided. On this issue, women are much more likely than men to favor the proposal with 58% of women supporting this option compared to 41% of men. (SEE TABLE 8 FOR MORE DETAILS)
Throughout the campaign season, some of the questions from Harris Interactive Election 2000 surveys will be regularly available through Excite@Home's new elections site (http://elections.excite.com/poll). Questions regarding the issue of the regulation of Internet content will appear on the site from May 7th to May 9th. Visitors to the site can cast their votes on these questions and compare their opinion with those of Harris Interactive's online panel of more than 6.2 million respondents and with other Excite.com members.
For a more detailed look at the online community's views toward
Internet sales taxes and the regulation of
Internet content see tables 1-8 at
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/index.asp?HI_election=election
Methodology
This Harris Interactive Election 2000 study was conducted between April 4th and April 10th with a national sample of 15,331 respondents from the Harris Interactive Inc. panel of Internet users. The data reported here are based on a random sub-sample of 7,511 respondents. Data were weighted by age, sex, education, income, race/ethnicity, region, and hours spent online, in order to generalize the results to the national online population.
In theory with a randomly chosen sample of this size and after weighting the data, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult online population of the United States had been polled. The sample used by Harris Interactive is not a random sample. While individuals have been randomly sampled from our database for this survey, they have previously chosen to take part in the Harris Interactive database.
There are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. These potential sources of error include question wording and question order, non-response, and screening (e.g. for likely voters). It is difficult or impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors so the words "margin of error" should be avoided when reporting all survey data.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive (Nasdaq: HPOL), a leading global market research firm, uses Internet-based and traditional methodologies to provide its clients with information about the views, experiences, behaviors and attitudes of people worldwide. Known for its Harris Poll, Harris Interactive has over 40 years experience in providing its clients with market research and polling services, including custom, multi-client research, service bureau research, as well as customer relationship management services. Through its U.S. and Global Network offices, Harris Interactive conducts research in over 85 different countries in more than 30 different languages. Harris Interactive uses its proprietary technology to survey its database of more than 6.2 million online panelists. For more information about Harris Interactive, please visit our Web site at http://www.harrisinteractive.com.
About Excite@Home
Excite@Home (Nasdaq:ATHM), the leading broadband media company, offers media services through Excite(www.excite.com) and Blue Mountain Arts (www.bluemountain.com), and broadband subscription services through @Home (www.home.com) and @Work (www.work.home.net). The company has a worldwide footprint of 72 million cable homes under long-term contract to accelerate its position as the leading broadband media company. Excite@Home's MatchLogic division (www.matchlogic.com) offers marketers industry-leading digital advertising capabilities, including rich media production, ad and e-mail services, and database analysis -- all integrated into a complete solutions package.
Safe Harbor Statement
This media release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking information. We caution you that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. Additional detailed information concerning a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ is readily available in the "Risk Factors" section of our Prospectus, dated December 6, 1999 and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933.
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