Another role that governments can play is that of a “developer” which means creating the necessary backbone for the better utilization of the Net. Developing of the informatic nets inside the country needs a national will and the government initiation, as many industrial activities are performed by state-run organizations in Iran. But we should not overlook the role of the private sector in this field: Private companies should never expect the government to solve their decision-making issues at the macro-level. Building a high capacity Internet band at the national level will be a very crucial task to be undertaken by the government. A good example here is that government builds roads and highways so that all people and businesses may use them, but the roads are not closed forever because of accidents. There might be much illegal stuff on the Internet, but it could not be a reason for preventing the growth of the Internet. A main point here is that we should seek solutions based on our problems and not vice versa! It is not expedient to discuss the applications and the nature of the Internet, we should rather make use of it in order to solve our problems.
Another point to make is that we should not judge about the Internet based on its appearance. Even under the current situation, the Internet has transformed the nature of work all over the world. To perform a task, we are not anymore limited by geographical borders, this is while the Internet has created new jobs itself. It has been a source of “hope” and “power” for many people; it has extended the reach of people and expanded the audience for those who want to disseminate information.
The advancement of ICT has proven that “human resource” is the rarest economic asset. The Internet has allowed us to utilize the creativity which exists in our environment. Human creativity does not have a specific geographical distribution; no one can say creative people are only found in the cities for example. Internet is like a universal library that everyone can use its books. More responsibility is with the users rather than with those who offer information on the Net. Users should define this medium based on their needs and someone’s definition of the Internet may be different from others.
The most exigent measure to take is to teach all people how to use the internet and not to talk about its functions. When it comes to using a watch, no one would talk about the mechanisms based on which a watch may work, but what is important here is “time”. Regarding the Internet, it would be a waste of time to discuss its history, etc. People should be informed of its positive points through practical training, i.e. they should be exposed to Internet to see its miracle.
National policy makers must believe that technology is a facilitator, which allows the country to enter the global economic arena. If the government institutionalizes the Internet within its organizations, it would see how it decreases the costs and raises efficiency. Meanwhile, it should be remembered that the role of the government should be kept at the macro level, which is mainly building the necessary infrastructure for further development of ICT.

Miracle or Mirage? Between the years 1994-1997, Internet was used for commercial purposes for the first time. Many seminars were held in a bid to answer the question that if e-commerce was a miracle or a mirage? Most of those discussions concluded that Internet is not a mirage, but a miracle, which took place at the end of the 20th century to facilitate the approach of human to the Information Age.
Despite some opposition views, e-commerce expanded very fast during the past years. Statistics show that only in 1998, $43 billion worth of transactions were made through the Internet. It is very interesting to know that even airplanes and oil wells have been offered for sale recently via the Net.