Internet super-poll to span globe

SAN JOSE - 3Com plans to use the internet to poll people worldwide for their views on sex, education, dreams and other personal topics.

The computer networking company says it is working with Harris Poll and technology leaders such as Sun Microsystems and Oracle to carry out its "Planet Project" over four days next month.

"The poll is the biggest, fastest, most sophisticated survey of its kind ever attempted," says 3Com chief executive Bruce Claflin.

"It's a bold demonstration of how technology can be used to foster greater understanding across geographic, cultural and economic barriers."

But the goal of the project is less altruistic than world peace. 3Com, which spun off its Palm handheld computer division, wants to show off how its products and systems can work behind the scenes of the internet.

"Every phone in 'Mission Control' is a 3Com NBX phone, streaming both voice and data in one network for superior inter-office connectivity," the company boasts dryly.

Harris Interactive developed the questions for the poll, to be offered in eight languages.

Questions will be posed at www.planetproject.com, and participants will be able to see how their answers compare with those of people around the world.

To reach places without internet access, pollsters with handheld computers and wireless web connections will ask people questions in schools, retirement centres and such remote places as Siberia and Burma (Myanmar).

The poll will have 20 questions on nine topics: religion, beliefs and fears, health and well-being, sleep and dreams, self image, marriage, dating and sex, parenting and education, and law and order.

Since it is possible that a respondent could participate more than once, the poll will not be statistically valid.