“Mind Your Metaphors: An examination of the Inefficacy Argument as a reason against Regulating On-line Conduct” in Ethics and Electronic Information in the 21st Century, ed. Lester Pourciau, (Purdue University Press, 1999), 231-251.
This chapter provides a critique of what I call the “inefficacy argument”, which continues to be offered as one of the most common rationales against internet regulation. This line of reasoning is premised on the claim that the internet, as a decentralized communications technology, has the built-in ability to circumvent and thus render irrelevant many of our fundamental normative commitments. I argue that the regulation question is not simply a question of efficacy but is, instead, a moral question. I deconstruct the typical metaphors used in arguments against regulating online conduct and caution against allowing ourselves to believe that the realm of regulation is beyond our control. I argue that the destruction of normative commitments is not the result of new communications technologies, but rather, is the product of human interference. I conclude by proposing that normative concerns are not subordinate to practical ones and claim that to suggest otherwise is to speak in the language of metaphor and excuse, a language that will ultimately suppress the importance of individual responsibility and moral accountability.
