So here is the scenario – a conglomerate that includes a merger of Time-Warner, QVC, Beatrice Foods, Microsoft and Disney builds this new network – shining, gleaming, interactive, with fiber-optic cables running into every living room … They know just about everything there is to know about us, more than we know about ourselves … They will use this inside knowledge of our buying habits to drive us so deeply into debt that our grandchildren will be born already owing this Time-Warner-QVC-Microsoft-Disney aggregate every cent they will ever earn.
Predictor: Moore, Dinty W.
Prediction, in context:In the 1995 book “The Emperor’s New Clothes: The Naked Truth About the Internet Culture,” author Dinty Moore writes: ”We Americans should expect full corporate involvement [in the Internet] somewhere not too far down the pike … So here is the scenario – a conglomerate that includes a merger of Time-Warner, QVC, Beatrice Foods, Microsoft and Disney builds this new network – shining, gleaming, interactive, with fiber-optic cables running into every living room – and for a reasonable fee they provide all the programs, all the channels, all the commercials, and allow us to shop from the convenience of our BarcaLoungers; and they, of course, have access to demographic profiles of our shopping preferences as well as our medical records, perhaps, and our educational records – certainly our preference in computer discussion groups. They know how much electronic mail we send, and to whom we send it. The software exists even now for them to search every bit of our electronic mail for key words and phrases (such as ‘I am a sex pervert’ or ‘I plan to buy a new car next month.’) They know just about everything there is to know about us, more than we know about ourselves. And what will they do with all of this information? If you are just a little bit skeptical, maybe even paranoid, the answer is obvious. Target marketing! They will use this inside knowledge of our buying habits to drive us so deeply into debt that our grandchildren will be born already owing this Time-Warner-QVC-Microsoft-Disney aggregate every cent they will ever earn. Oh, brother! Oh, Big Big Brother!”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Role of Govt./Industry
Name of publication: The Emperor's Virtual Clothes: The Naked Truth about Internet Culture
Title, headline, chapter name: Big Brother and the Bad Boys: The Dark Side of the Net.
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 185-6
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty