Potholes Along The Infobahn

By Craig Miyamoto, APR, Fellow PRSA

This piece was written in October 1995 for StarrTech, the Internet Company of Starr Seigle Communications. Since that time, some progress has been made in addressing Internet problems. However, public relations professionals still need to be familiar with these issues. Background information has been obtained primarily from the AAAA Bulletin (published by the American Association of Advertising Agencies), and from news sources available to nearly everyone on the Internet.

Any organization or phenomenon that experiences unwieldy growth will inevitably and eventually run counter at some point to accepted norms of social expectations. The daily papers and news broadcasts are filled with stories of how organizations and individuals are abusing the privileges afforded them by our free society.

The so-called "information highway" -- and more specifically the Internet -- is no exception. It's exploded into the fastest-growing information and communications medium in history, and it's developed growing pains. Not surprisingly, issues have been -- and still are -- emerging and being identified as the Internet matures and evolves. Solutions are being formulated, and are on the way.

Essentially, there are three basic categories of concern that must be resolved. They are (1) business issues, (2) social issues, and (3) issues of personal freedom. Here then, are some of the more serious:

Business Issues

• Copyright: More questions than answers. How can libraries go on-line without destroying the commercial value of books they put on the wires? Can students copy Internet documents with the same protection afforded by photocopy's "fair use" principles? Can copies be made from CD-ROMs? Electronic transmission has been defined by the current U.S. administration as a "copy" subject to copyright. Does this mean electronic transmissions are now "published material" instead of "free and unregulatable speech"?
• Trademarks: They need to be protected, and enforcement should not be stymied. The solution? Research, register, be on guard, and protect vigorously.
• Vicarious Liability: This is a problem when information is downloaded from a site. For example, if a site server carries slanderous material and the source (author) is sued, the site provider might also be liable. Case in point -- CompuServe wriggled out of a problem because it merely carried the material and served more as a "book store" than a publisher. In a similar case, Prodigy lost because they advertise that they screen bulletin boards for offensive material.
• Talent Fees: Pre-existing traditional contracts do not cover interactive media talent fees. Separate contracts will have to be negotiated, and/or interactive media must be included in future contracts for talent used in interactive media. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have set separate union rates for their members.
• Privacy Rights: This is a bi-i-ig one. Everyone enjoys the inalienable right to privacy -- the right not to have their names, photos or likenesses used in advertising without permission, and in the case of Joe Citizen, the right to be left alone. The Internet can be extremely invasive in this area, and celebrity privacy rights in particular should be an area of caution.
• Third-Party Rights: You need to respect the rights of those who do work for you -- specifically freelancers (e.g., photographers, writers, designers, consultants). It's now imperative that you review all existing contracts to see if they provide for interactive media use.
• Secrets & Competitive Raiding: Remember that there are no secrets on an open communications medium such as the Internet. If you don't want your competitors to know about your financial condition, if you don't want your competitors raiding your middle management and support staff people, if you don't want your competitors to know how large (or how meager) your client list is . . . if you don't want your competitors to "eat your lunch," then be careful about what you put onto interactive media.
• Agency Materials Ownership: Who owns the work you put on the Internet? Generally, clients do. Without agreements to the contrary, agencies own nothing. Don't use anything you created in any medium (interactive included) without the client's permission. And clients should not be afraid to make this perfectly clear to their agencies.
• Securities Law Violations: The sharks are out there. Misleading investments are being offered on the Internet, and the fish are biting. The old maxim still holds true: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serves as our protector. Their market surveillance division in Washington, DC, regularly reviews investment-related materials on the Internet. At last -- a good example of tax dollars at work.

Social Issues

• Child Pornography: More has been written about this than any other Internet issue since the boom began. The problem is two-fold: (1) the very existence of pornography, and (2) the vulnerability of our children. All it takes is a computer and modem, and any child who's so inclined can access anything on the Web. Child-porn rings are being broken, new rating standards are being formulated to help parents cope with the problem, and new software products can block access to objectionable sites. Eternal parental vigilance is needed.
• Cyberstalking: When the Internet becomes addictive, it becomes extremely intrusive. The creeps are out there, and it's not so hard for them to be in here. Cybercreeps can instill fear in parents and children -- in fact, in almost anyone who allows it to happen. E-mail will no longer be trusted. Bulletin boards (BBS) will be put off-limits. In short, individuals become afraid to avail themselves of modern technological communication.
• Non-Communicative Children: You don't hear too much about this, but many teachers are predicting that children won't be able to communicate in the future because they're losing their spoken communications skills. Human spoken communications extinct among the next generation of schoolchildren? Maybe it doesn't sound possible, but . . .
• Unregulated Gambling: You can do it now, and you soon won't be able to avoid it. On-line casinos and sports books, British Airways flights with seat-back electronic systems that are "gamling-friendly," a national $50-million weekly lottery by native Americans over 800-lines, telephone horse-race betting . . . they're all here now. As the Harvard Medical School addictions division director said, "Electronics is going to change the way gambling is experienced." Regulators are frustrated because laws continue to be challenged and circumvented.

Issues of Personal Freedom

• Personal Credit Security: To reiterate what was said previously in the "Business Issues: Secrets & Competitive Raiding" section, "remember that there are no secrets on an open communications medium such as the Internet." It shakes the faith when a browser software giant such as Netscape announces that its security codes were breached by a college student. Admittedly, this feat cannot be duplicated without tremendous resources, but it's unnerving none-the-less. Be very wary of communicating credit card numbers on the Internet.
• Anonymity: A court challenge may soon restrict the rights of computer network users. America Online is being sued by a Caribbean resort owner and a diving instructor to reveal the name of a subscriber who made untrue statements about the instructor's use of drugs while on the job. America Online's bulletin boards (BBS) can be accessed by the service's 3.5 million subscribers. The two claimed they were defamed on a BBS by an anonymous user. If they win, there are serious implications for the Internet and other interactive media. Anonymity may be a thing of the past.
• Freedom of Speech: Censorship rears its ugly head. Singapore will keep its censorship rights -- even when it comes to the information highway -- by making it illegal and costly for what they term "objectionable material" distributors to operate in the country. In the US, the debate likely will rage on as well. And, if it can happen in Singapore, then it might happen . . . here? The right to speak one's mind within acceptable parameters might be challenged and perhaps even abrogated.
• General Non-Discipline: Without government control, there is no discipline, save self-discipline. The Pentagon calls the Internet a potential "electronic Pearl Harbor." More than 150,000 military computers are connected to the Internet, and if civilian computers load it up with non-military information, the Internet might grind to a halt and America's armed forces couldn't eat, talk, move or shoot. Unless discipline is instituted, the Internet might stall somewhere around the year 2000. Watch for government intervention.
• Government Control: Nobody in their right mind wants this. But it will happen, if only because the industry cannot self-regulate. And yet, experts agree that taxes can be avoided, and black markets can be created that will go far beyond the range of government intervention and regulations. Why? Because government simply cannot keep up. But it's not going to stop them from trying.

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