Test of survival planned on Internet.

Volunteers being locked in a room, naked and alone, for five days with nothing but a computer, a spy camera and a credit card. Four human guinea pigs have volunteered to do just that as part of experiment to test whether it is possible to survive using only services available on the Internet.The volunteers each will spend 100 hours in separate cells at a secret location in London, trying to feed, clothe and entertain themselves using only the Net. Apart from the Internet -- and deliveries ordered using it -- the four will have no other contact with the outside world, though interested Internet users will be able to check how they are faring via a Web site on which regularly updated snapshots will be posted. The study is being conducted by Dr. Helen Petrie of the University of Hertfordshire, an expert in human-computer interaction. The four -- men and women aged from 30 to 67 -- were selected for their varied ages and levels of Internet experience. They were among hundreds of volunteers who responded to an ad placed in a national newspaper on behalf of MSN, Microsoft_s Internet service. The successful applicants were promised their own PCs and $800 to spend on items such as food, clothes, CDs and even microwave ovens for survival by Internet. News of the progress of the four is scheduled to go online at www.MSN.co.uk on Monday.