Give us a break! Must we have “hooter cancer survivors?”
Predictor: Godwin, Mike
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the controversy over America Online’s ban of the use of the word “breast” is the topic. The article says: ”America Online, the nation’s largest on-line commercial computer service, banned the word ‘breast’ – until it realized the word was key to vital discussions of cancer among women. The service began purging the world last week in accordance with regulations prohibiting ‘use of obscene or vulgar language’ … The ban was lifted after complaints from members who use the breast cancer bulletin board. In a statement Friday, the company said the ban was an error … Cancer patients were angry when they found their profiles removed from the system. ‘This is outrageous and potentially life-threatening,’ wrote one woman who uses America Online’s breast cancer bulletin board. Another member, Mary Marvin, wrote, ‘Give us a break! Must we have “hooter cancer survivors?”‘ Another woman wondered ‘if they’ve purged the penile cancer files, too,’ The Boston Globe reported. The company took action as debate in Congress continues over whether to hold online services responsible for knowingly transmitting pornography to children or allowing their systems to be used to transmit pornographic material. Some in the industry say the controversy may be a harbinger of things to come as services rush to censor themselves, hoping that Congress will thus not see a need to do it. ‘I think they’re doing it out of fear,’ said Mike Godwin, general counsel for the Electronics Frontier Foundation, which was formed five years ago as an Internet civil liberties group. ‘There are a lot of congressmen who think that America Online and other online systems are hotbeds of immoral behavior,’ he said. But if legislation like that included in a telecommunications bill passed by the Senate becomes law, many decisions might be made out of context, he said. ‘I think this incident illustrates precisely what kinds of things will happen,’ Godwin said.”
Biography:Mike Godwin was an attorney specializing in Internet issues and the outspoken chief counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the cyber-liberties organization in the 1990s. (Legislator/Politician/Lawyer.)
Date of prediction: December 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Censorship/Free Speech
Name of publication: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Title, headline, chapter name: America Online Drops Ban on Word ‘Breast’ After Complaints
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=d05e365437a1f4c1b5a76da30ce79610&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLbVlb-lSlzV&_md5=0a12d6933324c58dde9825b4419215fd
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Johnson, Kathleen