As it becomes possible for individuals and small groups to have a greater impact on the world via the Net, there will be pressures for more regulation of those activities. And, where regulation is feasible and much desired by some interests, there will be an intensification of jurisdictional disputes.
Predictor: Johnson, David R.
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 statement about the future of the Internet that is carried on the Electronic Frontier Foundation site, David R. Johnson, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and chairman of the EFF who helped draft the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, writes the seventh of 10 hypotheses on the Internet and law: ”A combination of software advances and simple learning will make it easier for people to use the Net to greater and greater effect. To be sure, information overload will slow this – but filtering and other new techniques will counteract this adverse effect of interconnection. As it becomes possible for individuals and small groups to have a greater impact on the world via the Net, there will be pressures for more regulation of those activities. And, where regulation is feasible and much desired by some interests, there will be an intensification of jurisdictional disputes.”
Biography:David R. Johnson was the chairman of Counsel Connect and the co director of the Cyberspace Law Institute in the 1990s. (Legislator/Politician/Lawyer.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Jurisdiction/Control
Name of publication: Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Title, headline, chapter name: The Future of the Net – As it Pertains to Lawyers
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Legal/future_legal_net_johnson.article
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Fedders, Peter J.