Technology Skeptic Clifford Stoll Says Internet Harms Learning, Social Skills.

Byline: Fred O. Williams

Nov. 6--Clifford Stoll leaps off the stage and bounds into the sparsely filled auditorium, his wild gray hair flying.

"When was it not the Information Age?" he demands of his audience at the University at Buffalo Center for the Arts. "Did Christopher Columbus have no desire for information? Was Socrates not interested in information?"

Stoll, a Buffalo native transplanted to California, is an astronomer, Internet pioneer and a technology skeptic. He returned home and delivered a talk on Saturday during a conference at UB, his alma mater.

His message was that the Internet is not just over-hyped, it's dangerous. It promises knowledge but delivers little, and extracts a high price in return.

"The more time you spend with your head stuck in cyberspace ... the …