No one would be driven to use [The Clipper Chip] by anything but convenience. In fact, no one with any brains would use it if he were trying to get away with anything.
Predictor: Barlow, John Perry
Prediction, in context:John Perry Barlow writes in 1993 about his view of the future of the Clipper/Skipjack chip, and the policy regarding encryption that would allow government to possibly “eavesdrop” on people’s communications: ”No one would be driven to use [The Clipper Chip] by anything but convenience. In fact, no one with any brains would use it if he were trying to get away with anything.”
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: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
www.eff.org/Publications/John_Perry_Barlow/HTML/plain_text_on_crypto.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Bizzell, Natalie