Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1993 17:51:38 -0800 From: Bruce Smith <bruce@wri.com> Subject: cyberspace, congressional hearings

The following is quoted/paraphrased from a column by Brian Robinson on page 26 of the 1 March 93 Electronic Engineering Times. By passing it on I imply no specific attitude of my own. I don't know the date of the hearings, but if someone finds out if/when it will be viewable on C-Span, I'd like to know. Feel free to pass the following info to individuals, mailing lists, or newsgroups. --- The House Telecommunications Subcommittee, chaired by Edward Markey (D-Mass), will soon be holding hearings on the relationship of future communications technologies to modern culture. In particular, it will be looking at the not-so-far-off universe of cyberspace. Some of the issues the panel will be considering are (in Markey's own words): + Are the fundamental values of our society so universal and enduring that they will not be threatened by the advent of new technologies or any new subcultures such technologies produce? + Will cyberspace instead become some lawless place, where the Constitution is cracked open by fiber fissures created when trying to convert a 200-year-old parchment document into a binary world of 0s and 1s? Can it continue to be a "living, breathing document"? + Will cyberspace develop its own distinct laws? Will it develop "digital vigilantes" to patrol and police the electronic bulletin boards and electronic highways?