This proposal will have more than a chilling effect. It may well mean a cold death for everyone except very rich and very cautious media companies.
Predictor: Fulton, Katherine
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for The New York Times, Denise Caruso covers the controversy over the Communications Decency Act, which targeted ‘indecent’ material on the Internet. She quotes journalist Katherine Fulton. Caruso writes: ”If the provisions become law, any user or provider of network services or information who is convicted of violating it would face a possible sentence of two years in jail and fines of as much as $100,000 … The legislation could create restrictions on free speech that are as sweeping as they are vague … and Internet entrepreneurs might not be aware of transgressions until the decency police knocked at their doors … Katherine Fulton, president of the Institute for Alternative Journalism and former editor of The Independent, a newspaper based in Durham, N.C., said, ‘If Jesse Helms had been able to stop me from publishing things he deemed indecent, we couldn’t have published an independent alternative newsweekly.’ Senator Jesse A. Helms is the well-known conservative Republican from North Carolina. ‘This proposal will have more than a chilling effect,’ Ms. Fulton said. ‘It may well mean a cold death for everyone except very rich and very cautious media companies.'”
Date of prediction: December 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Censorship/Free Speech
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Digital Commerce: The Prospect of Internet Censorship Raises Troubling Issues for Business
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Section D; Page 3; Column 3; Business/Financial Desk
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney