Society has not yet decided on a metaphor for online services. Should they be regarded as libraries, bookstores or newsstands, and thereby not be held accountable for all that passes through the wires? Or are they controllable conduits, as suggested by the civil rights office’s concept of a “limited public forum?” It’s not easy to come down on one side or the other.
Predictor: Rotenberg, Marc
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 San Jose Mercury News article, reporter Michael Dorgan writes about a court case dealing with crude attacks posted on a campus electronic bulletin board. He quotes Marc Rotenberg as he implies the inevitable need for some scope of permissible speech on the Internet. Dorgan writes: ”Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., which monitors the impact of law on cyberspace, says the Santa Rosa conflict represents ‘the most fully developed case involving the scope of permissable speech’ in computerized communications … Rotenberg, a law professor at Washington’s Georgetown University, says the case fits squarely into a ‘gray area’ of federal law. Part of the confusion, he adds, is that society has not yet decided on a metaphor for online services. Should they be regarded as libraries, bookstores or newsstands, and thereby not be held accountable for all that passes through the wires? Or are they controllable conduits, as suggested by the civil rights office’s concept of a ‘limited public forum?’ ‘It’s not easy to come down on one side or the other,’ Rotenberg said.”
Biography:Marc Rotenberg, was founder and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), in the 1990s. He won an EFF Pioneer Award in 1997 for his work as a “champion of privacy, human rights and civil liberties on the electronic frontier.” He targeted the impact of computer and telecommunications technologies on freedom and privacy and was an active writer and speaker on associated topics. (Advocate/Voice of the People.)
Date of prediction: September 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Jurisdiction/Control
Name of publication: San Jose Mercury News
Title, headline, chapter name: Free Speech in Cyberspace
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/lib/Freedom.of.Speech/SantaRosa.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stevens, Shawn