Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!apple!well!nagle
From: nagle@well.sf.ca.us (John Nagle)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: On the historical inevitablity of online smut, from the WSJ
Summary: Historically, smut paves the way in new media
Keywords: smut business Nitendo Prodigy
Message-ID: <21567@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 9 Nov 90 18:36:54 GMT
Distribution: comp
Lines: 48



     In "The Nitendo Nation" (Wall Street Journal, p.  R50, November
9, 1990), Michael W.  Miller analyzes the importance of smut in the
development of new communications technologies:

          Minitel took off, but not because of the wonderful
     information.  People were glued to their screens chattering away
     with each other, leaving messages on dozens of electronic
     hangouts that sprang up.  Not suprisingly, a good many of these
     messages were what the French call "rose" -- flirtatious, racy,
     even obscene.  The government sensibly decided to stay in the
     background and let people send whatever messages they liked.
     Minitel became a fixture of the French home, with more than five
     million subscribers and more than 12,000 services.

          This is a little-discussed principle of new communications
     media: Smut blazes the first trails.  It launched the videotape
     industry, creating a critical mass of hardware and retailers.  It
     played a big part in launching cable TV and dial-it phone
     services.  These all went on to attract broader, general-interest
     audiences, and so has Minitel -- about a third of its use today
     is for business services.  (Messages are down to about 15%.)

          Another way to articulate the same principle: When you open
     up a good new communications channel, it tends to attract speech
     that older channels discourage.  This tendency is what lets
     successful channels find their Darwinian niche and survive.  ...

          Getting the medium to take off, however, means having the
     long-term vision and tolerance to accept the inevitable first
     wave of adult talk.  Prodigy's first wave came last December,
     when its "Health Spa" conference flared into a vitriolic debate
     about AIDS between homosexuals and fundamentalists.  Prodigy
     quickly announced the Health Spa had become "of limited appeal"
     and shut it down, ostensibly for budget reasons.  That solved a
     short-term image problem, but it may also have hurt Prodigy's
     chances of finding a new niche that will let it survive.


Miller has provided a new and original argument against censorship,
and an excellent analysis relevant to the current BBS, USENET, 
NSFNET, and Prodigy situations.  I recommend reading and saving the
entire Wall Street Journal article, and sending copies to
decision-makers who need to be convinced.


                                        John Nagle