Concerns for security have produced concerns for privacy, since breaches of security can lead directly to loss of privacy (and, of course, loss or damage to data, software and information files). What is still in a considerable state of flux is the legal framework in which abuses of the Internet and its services are actionable in civil or even criminal senses.
Predictor: Cerf, Vinton G.
Prediction, in context:In an informative section of Vinton Cerf’s section of the MCI Worldcom Web site, he writes about the history of the Internet and also makes some predictions. Cerf writes: ”As the Internet continues its vigorous expansion and penetration into the everyday fabric of business and social affairs, a variety of legal, social and economic issues have either already arisen or are predictable. As the community of users has grown from a fairly homogeneous cohort linked by common research interests to a highly heterogeneous, globally distributed population, concerns about security and privacy have emerged … As in most other public service situations, public Internet service is subject to interference by vandals – the usual terms are ‘hackers’ and ‘crackers.’ The Internet community has learned that it must take pains to protect against such attacks by careful configuration of the parts of the system under its control … The same concerns for security have produced concerns for privacy, since breaches of security can lead directly to loss of privacy (and, of course, loss or damage to data, software and information files). What is still in a considerable state of flux is the legal framework in which abuses of the Internet and its services are actionable in civil or even criminal senses.”
Biography:Vinton G. Cerf was one of the key figures in the Internet Society in the 1990s. He earlier worked with C.S. Carr and Steve Crocker to publish the first ARPANET host-host protocol in 1970. In 1972, he was appointed first chair of International Network Working Group which was initiated to establish common technical standards to enable any computer to connect to the ARPANET. In 1973, he doodled the basic architecture of an Internet on the back of an envelope in a hotel lobby in San Francisco; also in 1973, he presented basic Internet ideas with Robert Kahn at an International Network Working Group gathering. In 1974, he published (with Bob Kahn) a paper on Packet Network interconnection that details the design of a Transmission Control Program (TCP). Also in 1974, he published the first technical specification of TCP/IP with Stanford graduate students Yogen Dalal and Carl Sunshine. In 1999, he served as the first chair of the Internet Societal Task Force, formed by ISOC. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Worldcom
Title, headline, chapter name: Suggested Readings and Prose
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.worldcom.com/global/resources/cerfs_up/prose/intoverview.xml
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Catalfumo, Cara J.