Poynter is a non-profit school for journalists, focused on helping journalists get better at what they do. We launched the page because we thought it might be helpful to journalists wrestling with the complicated, difficult issues involved in this story.
John Balzar
The creative geniuses who have given us the Web still insist that anonymity is one of its cornerstones. If so, the foundation is wormy. The longer that Web-heads insist on anonymity, the more the credibility and usefulness of their creation will be undermined.
Doc Searls
I think he's right to make the distinction. I also think the problem is solvable, if we create the infrastructure of personal identity — an infrastructure that allows each of us maximum autonomy, and still allows law enforcement folks to discover the identities of miscreants who might otherwise use the system to hide like snipers.
When asked why personal video recorders are bad for the industry, Keller says "Because of the ad skips.... It's theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you're actually stealing the programming".
© Copyright 2002 Michael J. Hehir.
