If passed, [the Digital Telephony policy] would have essentially called a halt to most American progress in telecommunncations.
Predictor: Barlow, John Perry
Prediction, in context:In an “Electronic Frontier” column he wrote for Communications of the ACM [Association for Computing Machinery] in 1993, John Perry Barlow comments on the possibility of the government enforcing newly developed policies regarding Digital Telephony, which would allow the government to “tap” into communications on the Internet, possibly intercepting private citizens’ conversations: ”If passed, it would have essentially called a halt to most American progress in telecommunncations until they could be assured of their continued ability to wiretap. Strange but true. They were never able to find anyone in Congress technologically backward enough to introduce this oddity for them, but they did elevate public awareness of the issues considerably.”
Biography:John Perry Barlow helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1990 with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members Mitch Kapor and John Gilmore in direct response to a threat to free speech. Barlow’s was one of the loudest voices in the battle to keep the Internet unfettered while still encouraging that it become a tool available to everyone. (Advocate/Voice of the People.)
Date of prediction: October 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Communications of the ACM
Title, headline, chapter name: A Plain Text on Crypto Policy
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
www.eff.org/Publications/John_Barlow_/HTML/plain_text_on_crypto.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Bizzell, Natalie