Prohibiting the posting of e-mail advertisements into newsgroups with assigned topics under discussion would seem reasonable, because such inundation is disruptive, intrusive, and surely an invasion of the sanctity that the Supreme Court purportedly protected in Rowan v. United States Post Office Department … Prohibiting the delivery of commercial messages to e-mail destinations would seem consistent with the First Amendment’s goal of encouraging a diversity of information sources without intruding upon the sanctity of personal e-mail or autonomous-group cyberspaces.
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 large numbers of people followed the example of Canter and Siegel in ‘spamming’ every newsgroup in sight, the results would be intolerable. Prohibiting the posting of e-mail advertisements into newsgroups with assigned topics under discussion would seem reasonable, because such inundation is disruptive, intrusive, and surely an invasion of the sanctity that the Supreme Court purportedly protected in Rowan v. United States Post Office Department. In actuality, however, the opportunity to place advertising copy into the electronic space, much as advertisements are placed in newspapers, exists on the Internet and may be facilitated by commercial information service providers. Although the eye may scan advertisements in the newspaper columns, there is neither compulsion to read nor any cost associated with receiving such reading material, other than the cost of the newspaper itself. Home pages on the World Wide Web or similar servers would provide adequate access to electronic viewers who may at their option choose to seek out the advertisements and services of providers with whom they wish to deal. Consequently, prohibiting the delivery of commercial messages to e-mail destinations would seem consistent with the First Amendment’s goal of encouraging a diversity of information sources without intruding upon the sanctity of personal e-mail or autonomous-group cyberspaces.”
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: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Advertising/PR
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.