Donna L. Hoffman and Thomas P. Novak
Marty Rimm's response to the Hoffman & Novak critique of the Time cover
article
Rimm has prepared a response to the Hoffman and Novak critique of the
Time "Cyberporn" cover article. Since posting the "Cyberporn Debate"
page on the Project 2000 Web server, thousands of individuals have
accessed the critiques. We urge all interested readers to now study
Rimm's response. Below are our reactions.
* Mr. Rimm does not address the Hoffman and Novak critique of the
Rimm study (only the critique of the Time cover article), nor the
other statements being made by political officials who have read
the Time cover story based upon Rimm's article. Our underlying
goal is to promote electronic commerce on the many-to-many
environment of the World Wide Web and its successors, and it is
our fervent belief that a hysterical rush toward needless
legislation of the Internet will hinder commercial investment and
community and educational interests.
* Mr. Rimm continues to refer to his research as the "Carnegie
Mellon study." Yet the study, and his response to the Hoffman and
Novak Time critique, is single authored.
* Mr. Rimm attempts, throughout his remarks, to discredit Hoffman
and
Novak's credentials in an offensive and demeaning manner.
Mr. Rimm attributes many of the statments made in the critique to
Donna Hoffman alone, yet the critique is dual-authored by Hoffman and
Novak.
The text of Mr. Rimm's study was not posted until July 11, 1995, 15
days after the appearance of the exclusive Time article.
note: Our reactions apply to the original version of Rimm's response,
downloaded at 1pm, CST, July 5, 1995.