NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
Support for this project was provided by core funds of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. Core support for the CSTB is provided by its public and private sponsors: the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Apple Computer, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, Digital Equipment Corporation, the Department of Energy, IBM Corporation, Intel Corporation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research.
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STEERING COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARTICIPANTS IN NETWORKED COMMUNITIES
DOROTHY E. DENNING,
Georgetown University,
Chair
ANNE WELLS BRANSCOMB,
Harvard University
MITCHELL D. KAPOR,
Electronic Frontier Foundation
STEPHEN T. KENT,
Bolt, Beranek, and Newman Inc.
GEORGE M. PERRY,
Prodigy Services Company
MARJORY S. BLUMENTHAL, Director
HERBERT S. LIN, Senior Staff Officer
LAURA OST, Consultant
LESLIE WADE, Project Assistant
GLORIA BEMAH, Administrative Assistant
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
WILLIAM A. WULF,
University of Virginia,
Chair
FRANCES E. ALLEN,
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
JEFF DOZIER,
University of California at Santa Barbara
DAVID J. FARBER,
University of Pennsylvania
HENRY FUCHS,
University of North Carolina
CHARLES GESCHKE,
Adobe Systems Inc.
JAMES GRAY,
San Francisco, California
BARBARA GROSZ,
Harvard University
DEBORAH A. JOSEPH,
University of Wisconsin
RICHARD M. KARP,
University of California at Berkeley
BUTLER W. LAMPSON,
Digital Equipment Corporation
BARBARA H. LISKOV,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
JOHN MAJOR,
Motorola
ROBERT L. MARTIN,
AT&T Network Systems
DAVID G. MESSERSCHMITT,
University of California at Berkeley
WILLIAM PRESS,
Harvard University
CHARLES L. SEITZ,
Myricom Inc.
EDWARD SHORTLIFFE,
Stanford University School of Medicine
CASMIR S. SKRZYPCZAK,
NYNEX Corporation
LESLIE L. VADASZ,
Intel Corporation
MARJORY S. BLUMENTHAL, Director
LOUISE ARNHEIM, Senior Staff Officer
HERBERT S. LIN, Senior Staff Officer
JAMES MALLORY, Staff Officer
RENEE A. HAWKINS, Staff Associate
GLORIA BEMAH, Administrative Assistant
KIMBERLY STRIKER, Project Assistant
LESLIE WADE, Project Assistant
COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND APPLICATIONS
RICHARD N. ZARE,
Stanford University,
Chair
RICHARD S. NICHOLSON,
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
Vice Chair
STEPHEN L. ADLER,
Institute for Advanced Study
JOHN A. ARMSTRONG,
IBM Corporation (retired)
SYLVIA T. CEYER,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
AVNER FRIEDMAN,
University of Minnesota
SUSAN L. GRAHAM,
University of California at Berkeley
ROBERT J. HERMANN,
United Technologies Corporation
HANS MARK,
University of Texas at Austin
CLAIRE E. MAX,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
CHRISTOPHER F. McKEE,
University of California at Berkeley
JAMES W. MITCHELL,
AT&T Bell Laboratories
JEROME SACKS,
National Institute of Statistical Sciences
A. RICHARD SEEBASS III,
University of Colorado
LEON T. SILVER,
California Institute of Technology
CHARLES P. SLICHTER,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ALVIN W. TRIVELPIECE,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
NORMAN METZGER, Executive Director
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Preface
In 1990, the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) decided to conduct a strategic forum on the rights and responsibilities of participants in networked communities. The board was motivated by the observation that participation in electronically networked communities was, even then, growing by leaps and bounds, in environments including the Internet, commercial network service providers, local bulletin boards, and company- and/or office-based networks.
In November 1992, a small invitation-only workshop was held in Washington, D.C., for prominent researchers and policy analysts to explore some of the issues that have arisen in this area; much of the background information in this report is drawn from that workshop. Participants in the workshop examined user, provider, and other perspectives on different types of networked communities, including those on the Internet, on commercial information services such as PRODIGY and America OnLine, and on grass-roots networks (e.g., those based on home electronic bulletin boards). Addressed were such questions as:
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What policies, laws, regulations, or ethical standards apply to the use of these services; who sets them; how are they developed; and how are they enforced?
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What are users' expectations regarding privacy and protection of other proprietary interests?
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What are the rights, responsibilities, and liabilities of providers or operators of these services?
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What are the rights, responsibilities, and liabilities of users of these services?
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What problems arise from connecting systems offering these services to systems that operate under different policies?
The forum, held in February 1993, had a somewhat different structure and aim. Although many of these same issues were addressed, the forum was organized around a set of hypothetical scenarios designed to illuminate how issues related to and associated with free speech, electronic vandalism, the protection of intellectual property interests, and privacy might emerge. The intent was to focus primarily on the concerns that policymakers in government and the private sector might have. As a result, much of the forum discussion involved questions of law and how the current legal regime helps to define the boundaries of what is or is not acceptable conduct on electronic networks.
The themes of the forum were heralded in a keynote speech by Congressman Edward Markey, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He noted the technological convergence of computer, communications, and entertainment technologies and pointed out that historical approaches based on differentiating these technologies may create problems for policymakers in the future. He underscored the importance of fundamental human values even in the new electronic medium of networks, and he argued strongly that policymakers have to address the negative as well as the positive aspects of the new medium.
This report is based on material drawn from the November 1992 workshop, the February 1993 forum, deliberations of the steering committee, and other material and events that have appeared in the interim. The workshop of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Bar Association, "Legal, Ethical, and Technological Aspects of Computer and Network Use and Abuse," held on December 17-19, 1993, was particularly germane. The 1993 forum provided some background material on technology, legal underpinnings, and the then-current policy environment, much of which is incorporated into Chapters 1 through 3. Chapters 4 through 7 are devoted primarily to discussions of the scenarios. Chapter 8 focuses on the deliberations of the steering committee, although comments from other speakers and participants are liberally included. The five
appendixes provide information about network technology (Appendix A), the agendas for the workshop and forum (Appendixes B and C), Mr. Markey's keynote speech (Appendix D), and biographies of the steering committee (Appendix E).
As the report of a workshop/forum event, this report does not attempt to draw conclusions, find definitive answers, or make specific recommendations; rather, its purpose is to illuminate, to question, and to articulate thorny and problematic issues that arise in this domain, thus helping to lay a foundation for more informed public debate and discussion. Where possible, CSTB has checked with individuals quoted in this report to ensure that their quotes are used in context. The steering committee and editors are responsible for the synthesis and analysis contained in this report. In addition, Chapter 1 and Appendix A are based in part on remarks made by Mitchell Kapor at the February forum, while Chapter 3 draws heavily on Anne Branscomb's presentation to the forum and her subsequent work. Finally, Laura Ost, an independent writer, developed the initial drafts of Chapters 4 through 7, and James Mallory of the CSTB staff contributed to Appendix A. The comments and criticisms of reviewers of early drafts of this report and of its anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.
The CSTB will be glad to receive comments on this report as well as any suggestions for further work in this area. Please send them via e-mail to CSTB@NAS.EDU, or via regular mail to CSTB, National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20418.