Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut

SMOfi
ilATA
theInfoGlut
Surviving
IAVI[
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BY
writer.a
uRI.-Llhe infancl ol m1 careera' a freelance
gD
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D.C.to rn'tall
in \0ashingron.
rrn.rt. rornyhome
gave
meacces\
lo
Themacfune
. ne* "opliance.
a proUfi
which I Felrsurewould give
-*.-F rhe FederalNewsServrce,
me a leg up. Everyday,morning, noon, and night, the printer
spatout interviewsfrom talk showsonly momentsafter
from senmajor speeches
theyhad beenbroadcast,
and other lfashington
ators, ambassadors,
Ibe ability
from
hearies,
andrb'olurel' eteryutrerance
IO CDUm OUI eLer
-
theri{4riteHouse.Vithout everleavingmy
Rrealetuolutttes
ofinfumation
' '
omeoiii.e. I ielt Pluggedrn.
in a
The installationresultedfrom my deci-
Mriet! offormats bas
sionto confronrrherushingtideheadon,
exceededour abiliA lo
to try to keeppacewith thenewandspeedy,
processiI. Fortunateb,
ftm action, botbper,
sonaland'Dolutcal,
canhelbclear
tbe ab
theold andslow'
andto moreor lessdisregard
As part of this approachI doggedlyperused
zinet.andwiresenices:
r*.maga
nuirerou\ne\ spape
I continuallycheckedmy e mail;I watchedCable
timenith books
Neus Nerwork;| ,roppedspending
and other cumbersomematerialthat felt more like yesterday.
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But I soon found that my reliable FederalNews Ser_
vice printer expectedme to be its equal. It could prht
two pagesa minute-why couldnt I read two pagesa
minute?The printer had just spewedout a dozentranscripts. \0as I still working on that sameparagraphl
Somewherealong the line, the empoweringeagle
becamean albatross.In a month or so, I pulled the
plug. The nice man came back and carted the machine
awav. I locked the eate behind him.
So-e tea.s l"t i itr a classroomat Columbia University,l attended a guestlecnre given by Brian Lamb,
sometime anchor oI the two C-SPAN channels,which
broadcastcongressionaldebatesand other government proceedrngs.For an hour or so, Lamb spokeconfidently about the history o{ C-SPAN and why he
believedit to be a vital public service.He boastedof his
plansto introducethe new cablechannelsC-SPAN3,
C-SPAN4, and C-SPANs. But then his host, Columbia
economicsprofessorand communications specialistEli
"ls
Noam, askedLamb two simple questions: more
iniormlrion necessaril)good?Doe" it really improue
"
the ooliticalprocess?
"i have.r't got u cl.re asto whether it's good or bad,"
Lamb replied. "But you cant stop this process.[t's the
American way. Vhich part of the library or the Internet do you want to shut down?
Ar home,at r,rork.and eren at pla;. communication haseneulfedour lives.To be human is to traffic
"Tens ofthousands of
in enormouschunks of data.
words daily pulse through our beleagueredbrains,"
"accompaniedby a
saysphilosopherPhilip Novak,
massiveamount of other auditory and visual stimuli.
No wonder we feel bumt."
If the concept of too much information seemsodd
and vaguely bhuman, that's because,in evolutionaryhistoricalterms,it is. For 100,000yearspeoplehave
been able to examine and consider i.Jormation about
as quickly as they have been able to create and circulate it. A range of communication technologies {rom
the drum and smoke signal to the telegraph and teleohone enabledus to developand sustainculture and
overcomeour fear of others,dimidshing the likelihood
of conflict. But in the middle of this century the introduction of computers, microwave transmissions,television, and satellitesabruptly knocked this graceful
synchrony off track. These hyper-production and
hyper-distribution mechanismshave surgedaheadand
left us with a permanent processingde{icit-what
a fellau at tbe FreedonFatum MedB St'dies Cen'
DAvrDSHENK,
tcr in Netu vork flon 1995-6, hds writter for Haryet's,Wned,
Spy,a"d t . \vashinston?osLHe cahbercacbedat dshdk@big'
foot.en. Thb arti.le is adapt?l foz Data SnoS:suniving the
tnfo Glrt, published in AptiL by HatperEdse, dn inpint af
Harpqcoliis. Copyrisht by DdriA Shenk
r99r
20rr\Y4uNE
"informaFinnish sociologist Jaako Ichtonen calls an
"
tion discreDancy.
In 1850. 4 D;rcent of American workers handled
information for a living; now most do, and in{orma
mateas opposedro manuiacruring
rion processrng.
rial eoods.now accountsfor more rhan half rhe U.S.
grosi national product. Information has becomeso
ubiquitous panly becauseproducing, manipulating,
and disseminating inlormation has becomecheap and
easy;with a thumb and index finger,we ef{ortlessly
copy and paste sentences,paragraphs,books, and
"carbon copy" e-mail to one or one hundred others.
We crave and pay hardsomely for someof the information we receive--+heseductive,mesmerizingquickadsrnd rhe24-hourup-to-rhe-minute
cur relevision
news flashes.It arrives in the form of the faxes we
requestas well as rhe oneswe donir we purqueit
through the Veb siteswe eagerlyvisit be{ore and after
dinner,the pile ofmagazineswe pour through every
month, and the dozensof channelswe flip through
whenever we have a free moment.
Iflhat is the harm of this incessantbarrage of stimuli captivating our sensesat virtually every waking
moment? "Ve're exceptional at storing information,"
"But
explainsUCLA memory expert Robert Biork.
there are reroevallimirarrons.'Memorv is rrored
according to specific cues----contertswithin which the
information is experienced, Vy'henthe contexs begin
to vanish in a seaof data, it becomesmore difficult to
remember any single piece of it. The more we know,
"We're pushing ourselves to speedsbeyond which
it appearswe were designedto live," saysNelson
Thall, researchdirector at the Unive$ity of Toronto's
"Electric technology
Marshall Mcluhan Center.
speedsup the mind to an extraordinary degee, but the
"
body staysin place. This gap causesa lot of stress
At a cenain level of input the glut becomesa cloud
of data smog that no longer adds to our quality of life
but insteadbeginsto cultivatestress,confusion,and
even ignorance. Information overload crowds out
quiet riroments and obstructs much-needed contemplation. It spoils conversation,literature, and even
entertainment.It leavesus more vulnerable as con"\0e tend to
sumersand lesscohesiveas a societv.
make verv unsophisticatedinferenceswhen we're
under cognitiveload," saysUniversityofTexas psy_
"Thinking deeplycannot be
chologist Dan Gilbert.
done." Sincetoday's glutted envkonment renderscondara
sumersdirtractedand earily open ro suggesrion.
smog may just be the best thing to come along 1or
marketers sinceplanned obsolescence
hvoerinformed
'ihis
isnt the first time we have con{ronted the
unpleasant side effects of abundance. lfe who live in
the most sophisticated and successfulnation on earth
'^?Y\F*
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I
tnaaliotlAnxirly
0l I tv- (y fuL
ffiv
u-
I '
hen I visired
an old friend from high schoolat his
officeat Microsoftonespring,hetook meon
a swingthroughthecompany
store,where
employeescan buy software for 80 percent off. My eyes darted around
maniacallyand my pulseracedas I
amassedstacks of CD-ROMs and
addedthe latest upgradeof Microsofi
\ford to thepile.Thelanerseemed
like a terihc
bargainas it includeddozensof sensationalnew formatring featureslike Autocorrect, AuroText, 100LevelUndo, drag-and'dropediting, TableAutoFormat, and somethingcalledWizards.
But the bargain on Vord 6.0 turned out to be
wastedcash.Afier I installedthe programt 13 highdensrrydr'k' onro m1 hard dr've rthe previou,
upgradehad requiredjust 5), I found that all the new
beil.,rndwhr.tle.h.:dran'formed rheprogr-rmrnro
a zoo ofcapabilitiesthat were cumbersometo learn
rnd h;d slowedevenrhe mosrelernent.rl
functronsto a
painful crawl. The minor fiascoraised the obvious
question:if it wasnl broke, why had they tried so hard
to fix it?
Mostly becauseit's terrificallyprofitable.The goal
of the information indusrryis to convinceconsurners
that, whatevertheyhave,irisn'tenough.That srraregy
reapsbillions of dollars everyyear for prograruncrs,
manufacturers,marketers,and public relations professionals.If Windows 95 felt like old news in 1996,
that's becauseMicrosoft planned it that wap Since
Microsoft makesmost ofits profits on upgrades,the
real product it is selling isnl hardware or sofrware
but information arxiery
It works. At the beginning of this decade,IBM
found that people were replacing their computers
everyfive years.By 1995,userswereconsideringtheir
machinesobsoletein jusr two years.What they only
yesterdavregardedas critical machinery they now saw
pla'rrc.Orerrll.by rheye.:r200r, rherraLion
a' u.ele,ic
will havetossedsome150 million compur€rsonto the
scrapheap.
Upgrademania doesnot come cheap.\(rhile per'
sonalcomputersare relativelyinexpensivecompared
l ryor*orio,ol:)et
loadnor
onb crowdsoat qrLiettnon4onts
a.nd.obsti,uctsconteruplnti on;
it ako havesus tnoretdnerabh ascomsunoeys
a,ndlets
cohesire
&sa.tociely.
'"'f"l*j;'r'='
the
nirh rheirbulkypredeces.or".
flt
- el
q"1
prevenrcancer]
Dovitanuns
thoughr?
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g a i n eodr
r- \\'ould
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hen'ive
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",isnificant
thereis alwavsan
Because
(O\iOB.
chunkof '' .{{,
nis.esa
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'DId
to crunch\ome
opportunitv
chanse.
'ou evernooce
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spinrhema bir'
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how,for anytiingelse.three *1h' b;t\
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prove
rhewinrheopposite'
and
vc\
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to lt
i""aJ iJrr,. i' ,. lot of $
a'gu'n'nrat'on
ne'
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sus-rhemarrow;rdemocracv
L.*i.i'""r".,.i.*.i"':i,iii"r.,
niNq\^'
andthinnereveryyear'
-runthinner
Nowhereare the stat wars more
heatedrhaninVashingtonDC where
sl.lppllingBristfor endles5pol;cy
hasbecome
a srgniticanr
gebate<
indusrrywirh purposeiullvvague
nameslikeInsLirure
andformidable
and
Covernment
lor Responsive
Policy
for
Center
the National
'\.'ly'I'
it."
twici aboutspending
'.1ze"X>Nut-Vh
a social
ljoprademaniaaisoexacrs
\rvA^^
rndollarq
.""',i",."""o, bemea.ured
'\(/e seea crarning
gap."raysOra..
r.
cle'sBillSea*ickl:Technology
I
.o--roL srch, fontusri.p"..1iat
I
p."j""fi"*." f"r- ** t..ttnotoII n An efd tn
!'." .r.ry ,hr.. o, tour.ton,h..'
iX/hat'smore,poins out economist
';i;i':-'::xxf,l?g;';:::which
detu I^Y::;2"1:tf"'ii"$".";'il:
tiwi.tless
masters of contention'
become
ple are eipectedto do.I?e areiup-
possibte,!i;1"':--',i;.ru:.';:Y::T
rnahe
i::"i:iln1'X:n:*Xli:
thrnk tank has a point petsonto
yeal
'
W h e nA m e r i c a nr e
s l lp o l l s r e r s
rhey
feeitheyare
rhat
andtherapisr.
the
losingcontrolover basicstruc-
'r5"Irl5':,]:;.'1#:fj:
uoeradineof the machinervall
ou, t.nt" of
ui-d.r-;".
"io-"unJ
.ecuriqrndconunuiry
-.^, ^?
, , , ' J . - . j - - - p00l
0J
WXdenlng
c o o r d i r atrheef l o r 'or f h J o r m a n o n '
I probrblyhavefour ro fivethousandjournalistson my systemi"
etaborotestwd.ies
f##::5;:fi:':]'T,ii,i}:
"That'sjust
journalist
u'l'd nuulnen's
0n
aboutevery
in rheworld Theyarecrossreier-
encedin a tier form-natronal
media,regionalmedia,tradePress,
T|'eN0tnalizflll0n0fHyle
el2eryside0fnery 3:::.;;.:Xlj":t:Ug;,::f;
interestedin the environment' m
n National Public Radio's
-.1'llT*:!::-:lo:"1':::
duestinn)lnure
'f ""
reporler unlrra
evenrng,
n,","1'.
is t"'ino
trying
rrying to make
Ragavan;"
lf
l a r e scancer
r . r n - c"study,
et ur d y .
ssense
e n " eo
off "the
r h elatest
*iii.h do.'n',t.,t' *,,h p..'iou'
analysis.'If you don't havesome
how ro
i.*ior."nfusion abour
:1r|.n"
ii"Jt
i",ifl..'"r..ri
n,irl""t
InstitutetPhilipTaylortells
Ca.rc'er
n"gr"rrr.l:y.,th."lal'
data
I'n,n erain uhrchlimitless
't
.r.J--
expert kn0wte6ge
"it?Tji:il",jl','j!!i;n,.tn
debates,
fanningoeoarcs,
from rannng
rrom
handsomely
"Crosr
sh
nowslike
a n dr e l e v i s i o
ro
designed
fire- are'pecificallv
rr
rhe staL-sarphenomenonThe
'.
l-.' t0 leSSCMfXry.
l(d
thetableasfuriouslyasa pingpong
andno
isnoreferee
ball Burrhere
offrcialsconngirheshowalway.
L-.
paradoxrcA'uy,
has,
make possiblea widening pool of
elaborate studiesand argumints on
eue.y"ide of eu.ty q"esiion,poliricalas well as scien
rif,.i*ore exp.ri kno-ledgehas.parado cally.led
to less clarity. Is dioxin ai da,rgiro,rs as we once
across
flvtackandForLh
charge"
ends before viewers have time to
gaugethe accuracy of the shots
The statisticalanarchy freezesus in our cerebral
rrack,,',rereacttoanoverabundanceolcompeting
expertoPinionsby simplyavoidingcomingto conclu_
sions.As the amount of information and number of
claims stretchestoward infiniry we are on the verge
of succumbing to paralysis by analysis.
Inevirabll.to anracrpeoplei anenrion.communica
tors of all types reson to barier-piercing countemeasures,feedinga viciousspiralin which the data smog
gets thicker and thicker and the efforts to cut through
the smog evermore desperate.Advertising becomes
noisier and more invasiveand frequently skirts the
bounds of taste. Films becomeever more sexually
explicit and violent. The basic character of our future
inJormation socieryhas already formed: its colors are
lighted in a blaze of neon; its audio track is full o{
expletives,insults, and explosions;and its cultural
trademark is the ever-more-outrageous
public relations stunt, such as the offer by a San Francisco radio
stationof a caseofSnapple to the family of rhe one
rhousandth personto commit suicideby jumping {rom
the Golden Gare Bridge.
Our societyis experiencingwhat commumcatrons
scholarKathleenHall Jamiesoncalls "the normalization of hyperbole."The degreeto which todayt television programmers,movie producers,performe$,
spokespersons,
and publishersapparentlyfeel compelled to tum up the heat is a seriousthreat to moderation and intelligence.It reducesour attention span.
It makes us numb to an)'thing that doesn't lurch out
and grab us by the throat.
This eflect is one of the main reasonspolitical cam
paigns have becomeso acrimonious. The growing
mean-spiritednessmerely reflects a society where
hyperbole, vulgarity, and ostentation thrive. ln a
Maryland senaterace, licilliam Brock III falselysuggestedthat Ruthann Aron, his opponent in the primary had beenconvictedof fraud. Aron sued.In his
defense,Brock offered as justification: "Everybody
knows there'shyperbole in election campaigns."
Unfortunately, this approach may discouragesome
ofour bestminds from enteringthe public debate.If
oneha' ro be 'ensanonal
and dramaLJc
ro gainanention, what doesthat ponend for the insightfulminds
whoseideasdon't lend themselvesto MTV or flashy
Web pages?If our attention naturally gravrtates
toward the Madonnas and Howard Sterns of the
world, who is left behindin the dust?The normaliz:
rion ofhyperbole supprcsses
the individualswe most
desperatelyneedin our complex times-those who are
willing to confront lifet ambiguities.
Village
ofBfl[el
hen I visitedJamesQuello, headofthe Federal Communications Commission, in his
office to discusssurveysthat showeda surprising lack of knowledge about political
"ff
affairs among the American public, he commented,
peoplewould justtune in, they'd be betterinformed."
The problem, ofcourse, is that peopleare tuning in but
they're acquiring specializedknowledge.
"There is so much information," lamentspollster
Andrew Kohut, "that peoplethrow their hands up
and say,'\fell,I'm going to focuson this very narrow
part of the world."'
A pluralisricdemocraryrequiresa certainamount
of toleranceand consensusrooted in an ability to agree
on common questions.Yet in an electronicworld of
endlesscommunication choices,we increasingly speak
different languagesand sharefewer metaphors, rcons,
historical interests, and news events.Bill Gatest celebrated "asynchrony" is br'ltan eloquentway of saying that we are out of step with one another,
This responseis one reasonfor the troubling level
of socialpolarizationplaguingthe United States.We
face a paradoxical spiral in which the more information we come upon, the more we narrow our
focus and retreat into different spheresof knowledge.We are, as writer Earl Shorrissays,"a natron
of lonely molecules."
The lnternetpromotesthis trend. Although 11 billion words on 22 million Webpagesgive us access
to
more information than ever before, Web sr'lrfersoften
explore their personal interests, and are often
rewardedwith highly specificinformation and communicare only with people who sharethose interests.
Software enabling us to create "smarr agents" that
automatically filter out information we don't think
we needwill tunher exacerbatethis trend: srumbling
onto new and interesting subject matter becomes
muchle" likelyin a cusromized
rnformanon
environment. Nicholas Negroponte ofthe MIT Media Lab
insiststhat smart agentscan and should include an
adjustable"serendipitydial." But one can not autoThe Internet does allow previoudy disenfranchised
groupsto communicatecheaplywithout geographic
limitation. Gays and lesbians,for example, inherently
dispersedthroughout society,have benefitedtremendouJy from onlineforumstharoffercheoppontrniryro
sharetheir thoughts about what it meansto be gay,
practical considerations about living a healthy, happy
life, and techdques for forcing politicians to take them
seriouslyas a group with imponant interests.But there
is a great danger of mistaking cultural tribalism among
people with obviously common interestsfor real,
sharedLndentanding among more diversegroups.
Journalistscan provide the viral social glue that
makes us a common unit, and also help us analyze
corpering \tati<ticalLlaim'. Unfonunatell.man1 iournalists reflexively balk at the prospect of stories that
smelloF"old new'.' reponrngrn*ead the late<topin-
ion poll, theshockingpersonalindiscretion,this morningt testirnony.
the newsflashmindsetaroseamonga groupof
I attended
oroducersat a weeklyeditorialmeeting
yearsagofor National PublicRadio's"Talk of the
an educational
i.trationl"one o{ us had suggested
light
of polls that
prevention,
in
AIDS
show on
Butboththe
the
subiect.
on
imorance
showedmuch
quashed
rhe
ide:.rli<rhosr
the
seniororoduceiand
ing thai the informationhad alreadybeenreported
people."
andthat it was"not our iob to educate
theirpurvre$ro new'flashes.
iourBurby limiring
consider
ofhavingto
themselves
nalistsareabsolving
dilemma:what
a variantof thetree-falls-in-the_woods
but everyone
is
reported
happenswhen information
Many
noticel
to
is foo distracted
iournalistshavent
oFour so.iyercometo termswithrheimplicanons
glut'
which is
to
from
scarcity
shift
ew'sfundamental
rueb
\ride
Vorld
^nd
other
visttl,
;hy Yahoo,Abd
our
becoming
way
to
searchenghesareon their
primary inlormation sourcesJournalistsneed
to approachinformation as
a natural resource
that has to be
managed and
analyzed more
than simply
acqulred.
Allrturnl0
Itrleflni[$
n the late 1960sand
1970s, Americans
['
beganto realizethat they had
i? toiake actionto limit the physical
m early
smoe and other pollution accruing all
arou"ndthem. Meanwhile, people also became
of consuming
awareof the ,evereconsequence'
too many calories and too much fat, and the need to
limit their htake. Now a similar challengebefalls citizensof the information age.For our individual well
being as well as the health of our democratic society,
we must act now to responsibly limit our exposure to
information. The goalshould be to maintain and even
increaseaccessto reliableand usefulcommunication
without comDromisinea certainsocialserenity.Fortrrnateln a nu-ber oipromising remediesfor data
smog are availableif we stop for a moment to look
- Be yot!| oum smalt ageftt You are responsiblefor
managingyour own signalto-noise ratio, for choosing
the information that is accurate,relevant,economlany
and evocarirewhrleelimrnaring
cal,articulare.
own
smalt
your
As
meaning.
out
that
blocks
thing
asenr.vou arealso\our orn'ndatadietrtianlakesome
,i"'. ro .*umin. lor. daily incakeand con'ider
whether vour info diet needssome fine-tuning-per
haossomedata naos in the afternoon,during which
you receiveno elecironicinformation. Many victims
data[a'rsrejuvenator elurhare alto found periodrc
giuge
the
value of something,
ingi One sureway to
while
after all. is to eo without it for a
olf. Therei5 no
I or erampie,rurn rhe relevi5ron
pace
ofyour life.
of
the
cruckerwayio reg:in conrol
yourthink
ot
p.r..
rnd
theconrent
oilo* horn..
,ir" ing. Millions of Ameri-
canswho havelimited their TV
viewinghave
discovered
hours
lz
of free time
with which they can begin to do some of the things
they've never found time for My own approach has
been to move the offending item from the kitchenlivins room into the closet.There it staysexcept for a few
seiecthours per week, when I lug it out, plug it in and
turn it on. After a brief viewing, it goessnaight back to
the closet.Sincethe televisionhas beenconsignedto
the closet,my wife and I play more music, we read
more.we talk more.
rtadeoit: cancelyour cableTV <ervrce
A suggesled
and aoolvthar srme $20 per month ro one or more
good bookr. Book. urethe opposrrcoftelevision:they
areslow,engaging,
inspiring,intellect-arousing,
and
creativity-spu-rring.
Anotherstrategyis to avoidnewsnuggets.A1l-news
channels,wire services,
and top-of-the-hourheadlines
may bethe only commonfabric we haveleft, but that
isn'treasonenoughto sacrificeyour attentionspan,
Spendthosefive minuteseachhour doing something
more productive,like conductingone meaningful
demands
a newkind of socialresponsibility:
an obligationto be more economicalaboutwhat we say,
write,publish,broadcast,
andpost.Evernhingfrom
voice-mailmessages
to officememosto speeches
to
Webpagesshouldbecrisp,clear,and to the point. By
reducingthe amountof needless
information,we will
alsoreducevulgarity,as people{eellessneedto be
sensationalto atffact attention.Our tonewill be€ome
morecivil. Our socialsignal-to-noise
ratio will beginto
And recallthe playful warning of MichaelDer- improve.Wewho havelearnednot to drink or eator
touzos,headof MIT's Laboratoryfor ComputerSci- work to excess
will no* simply:dd anothervinuero
ence,in this magazine(see"SetenThinkersin Search the listof ah Information Highway," AugustlseptembeT
Thepayofffor suchrestraintis high.As we severely
1994): "E-mall rs an openduct into your centralner- limit content,we learnto savorit more.I experienced
voussystem.It occupiesthe brainandreducespro- thisparadoxfusthandwhenI askedmy brotherJonto
ductivity."Ask peoplenot to indiscrirninatelyforward
film my wedding.He ownsa sophisticated
Hi-8 camtrivia. "Unsubscribe"to the lntemet newsgroups
thar corder,but he usedan old Super8 instead.In five
you'reno longerreallyinrereqed
b. Telladvenisers hourshegot throughfour rolls-l2 minutes----of
film.
who "spam"---sendyou uasolicitede-mailmessages- Weekswent by while we waitedfor them to come
that you haveno interestin tJreirproducrandaskthem back from the developer.
Finally,we sat down to
to removeyou ftom their customerlist.
watchour mea.lyfootage.
I heshowwa: overin a
e Resistadtenisingafid upgrademania.Renrcmber flash,but we werethrilled.The thre-minute films are
that upgradesaredesigned
primarilyassalestools,not
glmpsesinroour ueddingandreception.
cherished
necessarily
to givecustomerswhat they'vebeendamin markedcontrastto an uninterruptedthree-hour
oring for.
videothat dullsour senses
and rendersuseless
our
t W ko to dataueillance.
By writing just a few let- memories.A mediumthat capnresalmostevery'thing
tersputtingyour nameon do-not-disturblists,you can conveysalmostnothing.
greatlyreducethe arnountof junl mail and unsolicited
e De-nichify How to chzrnge
our electronicTower
phonecallsthat comeyour way.
ol B:belintoa modernAgora)Theansweriseasy.
e Leauethepagerand cellphonebehind.Arc .d'.|(fe- thoughthe solutionis not. Ve needto talk to one
lesscommunicatorsinstrumentsof liberation.freeine another,
peoplero bemoremobiJe
with rheirlives,or more|i(i
By reachingout to differentculturesand niches,
electronicleashes,
keepingpeoplemore plugged-into
Brianlehreq,radio hostof WNYCI "On TheLine" in
their work and info-gluttedlivesthanis necessary
and New York Cit6 underscores
the simplenotionthat
healthy?It is thrilling to bein touchwith the world at
communities
work betterif peoplediscusstheirdifall times,but it's alsodrainingand intedering.For ferences.
Onehighlightis his annualmulticulturaloutsanityt sake,peopleoughtto beallowedto roam fiee reachon Martin LutherKing Day,duringwhichhe
from tle informationsuperhighwayfor at leastsome inviteslistenersto callin andreadone-minuteexcerprs
^^h^.
^{...1'
-,..L
from works aboutanethnicgroupdifferentfrom their
- Giue a hoot, don't i/1fo-pollute.The inlo glut
own. On other daysIfhrer might conductinformed
T
I to,in|ogtr, dernandsn newkind.of sociatrnponsibility:
a,nlbliga,tiznt0 exertrytzreclnh,olwer wha.twesa.y,
write, pablisb,broad.cast,
end l,ls-t.
Top*totutttr'rmsf'rom
wswith solicitations
d.elwging
nseof
on wtuauthorized'
based.
pet/sona.l
wenaed.
informa.tiom,
ofthe
a longtowghtwpgrad'e
Act.
Prnfuacy
Fed.erol
conversationson Bosnia,teachers'unions, and date
rape. \7e can't all have our own radio program, but we
can tune in to such shows and read generalinterest
oeriodicalsl we can make a point to reach acrossniche
to.,ndaries; we can auoid ipecialized jargon. As we
breachcultural divides and pursue interdisciplinary
studies,we are engagingin the bestkind of education,
not simply becomingmore ef{icient at a specialized
task but learning how to interface with the rest of
humanrty,
e Iksist that government help defend citizens
against ddta strueillance and data spam, Taking
alvantange ofthe good that technologyhas to offer
without choking on the bad will take strong collecdve effort. Unfonunately the cyberJibertanancommunity has made anti-government rhetoric a fashionable part oF rhe jntormationrevolurion.mosll) in
rerponseto thoughrle'"federallegislationAfter President Clinton signedthe CommunicationsDecency
to curb speech
Act in 1996, which aimedexcessively
online, leading cyber thinker John Perry Barlow issued
a "Declaration of the Independenceof Cyberspace"
that rashly proclaimedthe Net to be its own world.
But the NJis flot a new world vestedwith its own
sovereignrylit is a novel and excrtrngfacerof sociery
Ultimately,the former must fall undercheiuridiction of the lafter.
For example,the TelephoneConsumerProtection
Act of 1991 made it illegal to use an autodialing
phonemachineor to makecallswith a prerecorded
voi.e.This law shouldbe amendedto bar software
and indisthat automaticallyplucks e-mailaddresses
criminatelyincludesthem in marketingsolicitations.
"do-not_
This new legislationshould also establisha
disturb" registry of names,phone numbers, addresses,
that all massmarketerswould be
and e-mailaddresses
cross-re{erence.
legally obliged to
lndeed, the ability to gather and analyze information convenientlyand cheaply meansthat personal
privact ha. replaced
a: our primarycivil
censorshrp
iibeniesconcein.Whar oncemrghrhavebeencon'id
ered harmlesspersonal trivia- which videos you
rented this week, whether you like starch in your laundered<hin", wheLheryou buy namebrand or generr
today all be tr:rned into useful intelliaspirin----<an
drlabases.A
Lenceby poweriul cross-relerenctng
for example.is
iompany ialled DeiaNewsParmers.
copyingandcatalogirg.Formarkeringpurpo<o.every
posLedro eachofrhe rhouunds of tub.ingle message
Usenernewsgroups.
iect-<pecrfic
To prohibit governmentagenciesand companres
{rom using information for unauthorizedpurposes,
we need a iong-so.rght upgrade of the FederalPrivacy
Act of 1974, which set severerestrictions on the information governmentcould collect on citizensbut exl*/hetheryou are subscribingto a
emptedLusinesses.
magazine,buying a modem, signing a petition, renewing your driver'slicense,taking a random drug test'
enrolling your child in school,or paying your taxes,
you should be assuredthat the personal data you tum
over will go no further unlessyou specificallygrant
This time, the law shouldexemptno one.
Dermission.
'
The Federal Trade Commission can also be an
important player in limiting data smog The FTC'S
current policy is that consume$ must match their wits
against the claims and resourcesof advertise$ When
"half truths and motivational manipulait comesto
tions," writes Adzert,rizg Age columnist StanleyE.
Cohen. "the remedyis caueatemptoL" This hardly
seemsa fair fight. Ve need a reiuvinated FTC that
criticizes questionable marketing practices and
inposesfines.
io ensuretharcicizen.not only haveonlineaccess
to government documentsand officials but understand the workings of government,a new Government Information Act must ensurethat legislation,
regulations,and court rulings as well as tax information is publishedin formats that any literateperson can understano.
Finallx we need to re{ormulatethe issueof inform:tion have-nots. The disenfranchisedcitizens of
our country are not in need of faster accessto bottomlesswells of information but rather better education-high-quality teachers,classroommatenals,
and buildings. The best way to prevent data smog
Irom settling in is to shift attention a4d resources
toward basic educational infrastructure for all
Americans.ff