Net Losses

THE INTERNET IS OLDER, BUT IS IT WISER?

In a strictly informal poll of my friends, I'm convinced that in the latest phase of the Internet era most socialized human beings (that is, people with friends) are surfing the Net a whole lot less these days.

Gone are the endless hours of meandering to see where the links take you; the bleary-eyed discoveries of the bizarre Russian MiGs for sale

(MoscowAircraft.com) or an Asian gigolo plying romance (geocities.com /Ionely45l_2000/me.html) no longer evoke amazement but rather “Don’t you have anything better to do with your time?”

In short, the curiosity factor is waning. It’s sort of like TV in the mid-50s—the novelty of watching a moving image on a box in the living room has worn off, and people are looking for something more substantive. Today, utility is key; I still check Drudge.com every morning, not for its politics, but for the simplicity of its links to newspaper columnists. I look at Jim Romenesko’s Medianews.org, along with lnside.com (I'm a contributor) and Variety.com. And although I glance at TheNewYorlcTimes.com for news updates, it occurs to me that with more than a billion Web pages now on-line and a virtual avalanche of information being added every minute, the oft predicted demise of print-based newspapers and magazines is ridiculous: you pay your money for the print version of the Times or L The Economist— or even Vanity Fair—to have someone else I slog through the morass and find the signal in the noise.

Still, I have my pet peeve: sites that require registration and passwords for no reason, and ask for far too much personal information. Recently, one asked for my birth date, income, home phone number, the birth dates of my wife and children, and about 300 items that are normally needed only by your H.M.O. in order to stop resuscitation efforts or someone who's your going to sell your name and demographics to a mailing list.

With this in mind, I offer a suggestion: make yourself demographically undesirable. Age: 70+. Date of birth:

10/27/29. Income: Less than $10,000. Length of time at current residence: 10 to 15, depending on good behavior. Hobbies: Taking my next breath.

Call it coincidence, but within 24 hours of filling out a form like this, I received an unsolicited E-mail for mydeath.net—a funeralplanning site.

BRUCE FEIRSTEIN