Site administrators will better protect users from mass mailers, but said that users need to educate themselves on the realities of the Net and protect their passwords – and use a combination of numbers and letters that can’t be found in a dictionary.
Predictor: Rheingold, Howard
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for the Washington Post, Scott Moore quotes technology commentator Howard Rheingold and his reaction to security online. Moore writes: ”A landmark combination of hate mail, hijacked computer identities and mass e-mailings last month offers a lesson in computer security and the power of the Internet. A virulent e-mail message – about ‘free money’ being available to welfare mothers, illegal aliens, Jewish organized crime gangs from Russia and homosexual performance artists – went out to 25,000 people on the Net from at least two sources. The name that appeared as the author of one of the mailings was a completely innocent Texas A&M professor whose e-mail identity had been stolen; another was generated from that of a former University of Wisconsin student. ‘What is remarkable is the degree in which this does not happen,’ said ‘Virtual Reality’ author Howard Rheingold. ‘That’s the vulnerability of the Net.’ The hacker may not have broken any laws – the legal landscape is very murky, with few precedents. The moral infraction, however, says Rheingold, is a ‘crime against the commons,’ whereby a few rule-breakers can ruin the common area enjoyed by all. He predicted that site administrators will better protect users from mass mailers, but said that users need to educate themselves on the realities of the Net and protect their passwords – and use a combination of numbers and letters that can’t be found in a dictionary. (The Texas A&M professor had his last name for a password.)”
Biography:Howard Rheingold, one of the first writers to illuminate the ideals and foibles of virtual communities, published a webzine called Electric Minds and wrote “Virtual Reality,” “Smart Mobs” and “Virtual Community.” He also was the editor of Whole Earth Review and the Millennium Whole Earth Catalog. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Washington Post
Title, headline, chapter name: Let the E-mailer Beware: Perturbations, Pleasures and Predicaments on the Information Superhighway
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=ca4d7223d13ab6ccaeeed75044388933&_docnum=10&wchp=dGLbVlz-lSlAl&_md5=bff31f6a513967fbded4e97bdc3c36eb
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Smith, Ian T.