[The original draft of the Communications Decency Act] would have been a global nuke of the whole information infrastructure, since the only way to [protect yourself] would be to pull the plug.
Predictor: Rutkowski, Anthony Michael
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in CQ Researcher, Charles Clark quotes Anthony Rutkowski, executive director of the Internet Society talking about the government’s attempts to patrol pornography on the Internet. Clark writes: ”Should the government crack down on pornography on the Internet? What is driving the buzz is an amendment introduced in Congress this spring by Sens. Jim Exon, D-Neb., and Slade Gordon, R-Wash., that would attempt to update federal laws on telephone harassment to the computer age … The proposal, which cleared the Senate June 14 as part of a massive telecommunications deregulation bill, was modified by Exon after online service providers complained that the original draft would have held such companies as CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy Services Co. responsible for objectionable material that users originate. ‘That would have been a global nuke of the whole information infrastructure, since the only way to [protect yourself] would be to pull the plug,’ says [Anthony] Rutkowski of the Internet Society. ‘The new version is more pointedly focused on individuals or organizations that actually make the material available.’ … A Newsweek poll in February indicated that 85 percent of Americans are concerned about pornography being too available to young people through the Internet, and 80 percent are concerned about ‘virtual stalking’ through unwanted messages.”
Biography:Anthony Michael (Tony) Rutkowski was a lawyer and engineer who was an executive director of the Internet Society during some key years of development in the 1990s. (Technology Developer/Administrator.)
Date of prediction: June 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Pornography
Name of publication: CQ Researcher
Title, headline, chapter name: Regulating the Internet
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/search.php
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney