It is a little terrifying, at times, to think that virtually anyone, armed simply with a computer, modem and telephone line, can, at least in theory, reach a worldwide audience with whatever communication he or she wishes. This fact, coupled with the anarchic freedom of the Internet, has brought to a head a number of fundamental issues that may have significant ramifications on how the Information Age unfolds: surveillance and public safety vs. privacy through encryption and anonymity, censorship vs. free expression, more control vs. a decentralized anarchy of information.
Predictor: Harris, Blake
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in Government Technology, Blake Harris writes: ”The dark side of cyberspace harbors hackers pirating software and exchanging hacking techniques, drug smugglers using e-mail, political extremists advocating racism, hate and violence, predators seeking to seduce children, pornographers with modems, and maybe even terrorist networks plotting atrocities – in fact, almost every form of evil that already exists in our society. It is a little terrifying, at times, to think that virtually anyone, armed simply with a computer, modem and telephone line, can, at least in theory, reach a worldwide audience with whatever communication he or she wishes. This fact, coupled with the anarchic freedom of the Internet, has brought to a head a number of fundamental issues that may have significant ramifications on how the Information Age unfolds: surveillance and public safety vs. privacy through encryption and anonymity, censorship vs. free expression, more control vs. a decentralized anarchy of information.”
Date of prediction: October 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Government Technology
Title, headline, chapter name: Cyberspace 2020: The Future of Cyberspace Will Rely Not on Our Ability to Police it, but on What We Collectively Build There
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1995/oct/cyberspa.phtml
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry