3Com’s Net Poll to Sample World’s Views

3Com Inc. plans to use the Internet to poll people around the world for their views on sex, education, dreams and other personal topics.

The Santa Clara-based computer networking company said Wednesday it is working with the Harris Poll and technology leaders such as Sun Microsystems Inc. and Oracle Corp., 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,” said 3Com’s Chief Executive Bruce Claflin in a statement. “It’s a bold demonstration of how technology can be used to foster greater understanding across geographic, cultural and economic barriers.”

The goal of the project is less altruistic than world peace, however. 3Com, which spun off its Palm hand-held computer division, wants to show off how its products and systems work behind the scenes of the Internet.

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

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

Questions will be posed at https://www.planetproject.com, and participants will be able to see how their answers compare to those of people around the world. To reach places without Internet access, pollsters with hand-held computers and wireless Web connections will ask people questions in schools, senior centers and such places as Siberia and Myanmar.

The poll will have 20 questions on eight different 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.

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

3Com shares fell 13 cents to close at $18.94 on Nasdaq.