The prediction, in brief:

Many computer professionals and academics say the electronic frontier needs a preacher as well as a sheriff. Like non-virtual reality, cyberspace needs self-regulating codes of behavior … “There is no technological fix for ethics.”

Predictor: Sullivan, Patrick

Prediction, in context:

In a 1994 article for The Boston Herald, Stephanie Schorow interviews Patrick Sullivan, director of the Computer Ethics Institute. Schorow writes:”A California user got ‘hung up to dry’ when he was found to be courting several women at once, noted Patrick Sullivan, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Computer Ethics Institute. ‘He didn’t think the rules of fidelity applied in cyberspace. He found he was wrong,’ Sullivan said … Many computer professionals and academics say the electronic frontier needs a preacher as well as a sheriff. Like non-virtual reality, cyberspace needs self-regulating codes of behavior, the restraints that keep many of us halted at a red light even at 4 a.m. with no traffic and no cop in sight. Currently, cyberspace is imbued with the hacker’s logic and something Sullivan calls the ‘Nintendo fallacy.’ He developed the concept after hearing one of his young sons declare to his brother during an argument, ‘You can’t cheat – the machine won’t let you.’ Like his son, many cybernauts believe that the system won’t let them do something that’s wrong, and conversely, if they can do it, it must be all right. But ‘there is no technological fix for ethics,’ Sullivan said … In 1992, the Computer Ethics Institute created the ‘Ten Commandments for Computer Ethics.’ Like the original, these new commandments are open to broad interpretation. Take the rule, ‘Thou shalt not interfere with other people’s computer work.’ How might this apply to the emergence of mass-marketing e-mail?”

Date of prediction: January 10, 1994

Topic of prediction: Community/Culture

Subtopic: Ethics/Values

Name of publication: Boston Herald

Title, headline, chapter name: Information Superhighway Users Search For Rules Of The Road

Quote Type: Paraphrase

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
NEWS; Page 1

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney