I reject the idea that anonymity itself is actually an overriding benefit to the users … Anonymity is not the good, privacy is. Confusing the two is ahistorical, kneejerk ideology that is going to look damn foolish in very short order, along with a lot of other wishful thinking about the Net.
Predictor: Rossetto, Louis
Prediction, in context:In his 2003 book about Wired magazine, “Wired: A Romance,” former Wired staffer Gary Wolf quotes a 1995 e-mail publisher Louis Rossetto sent out to employees of the magazine’s spin-off Web site Hotwired. The e-mail was sent in defense of Rossetto’s view that Hotwired should retain its user-registration requirement for readers of the online site. Some employees of Hotwired opposed it because it cut across the “traditional” values of a free and open Internet and seemed to contradict the Wired philosophy. Rossetto steadfastly defended the use of registration in personal conversations and in an e-mail missive in which he writes:”I reject the idea that anonymity itself is actually an overriding benefit to the users … Anonymity is not the good, privacy is. Confusing the two is ahistorical, kneejerk ideology that is going to look damn foolish in very short order, along with a lot of other wishful thinking about the Net.”
Biography:Louis Rossetto was the CEO and co-founder of Wired Ventures Inc. in the 1990s. He was the founding publisher and editor of Wired magazine and its online spin-off, HotWired. Wired magazine incredibly influential from its beginning in 1993, illuminating for a large audience, the most important issues of the Internet age. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: Wired: A Romance
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 8: Carl
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 127
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney