The prediction, in brief:

If the electronic messaging services are required to accept responsibility for all of their content – as are “publishers” in the print and broadcasting world – then a budding electronic democracy of free speech operating in an electronic “public forum” may be lost. At the very least, it should become possible for electronic information providers to declare some cyberspaces to be “public forums” where messages may be circulated freely. Otherwise the public forum, as modeled on the ancient agora, may be lost as an uninhibited “marketplace of ideas.”

Predictor: Branscomb, Anne Wells

Prediction, in context:

In her 1995 paper “Anonymity, Autonomy and Accountability,” published in the Yale Law Journal, Anne Wells Branscomb writes:”If the electronic messaging services are required to accept responsibility for all of their content – as are ‘publishers’ in the print and broadcasting world – then a budding electronic democracy of free speech operating in an electronic ‘public forum’ may be lost. At the very least, it should become possible for electronic information providers to declare some cyberspaces to be ‘public forums’ where messages may be circulated freely. Otherwise the public forum, as modeled on the ancient agora, may be lost as an uninhibited ‘marketplace of ideas.'”

Biography:

Anne Wells Branscomb, an expert in technology and the law, was the author of “Who Owns Information? From Privacy to Public Access” (Basic Books, 1994), and the 1995 Yale Law Journal article “Anonymity, Autonomy, and Accountability as Challenges to the First Amendment in Cyberspaces.” (Legislator/Politician/Lawyer.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues

Subtopic: Defamation/Libel

Name of publication: The Yale Law Journal

Title, headline, chapter name: Anonymity, Autonomy, and Accountability: Challenges to the First Amendment in Cyberspaces

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web5.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/25/937/33272584w5/purl=rc2_EAIM_1_Anonymity,+autonomy,+and+accountability_________________________________________________________&dyn=sig!1?sw_aep=ncliveec

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Bricker, Erin E.