The prediction, in brief:

There is no assurance that one-size-network fits all. Some important public policy choices will therefore be made, one way or the other.

Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell

Prediction, in context:

In a 1991 article for The Whole Earth Review, a quarterly magazine of access to tools and ideas, Roger Karraker discusses the Internet, quoting Mitch Kapor of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Karraker writes:”Kapor, one of the country’s most respected entrepreneurs, suggests that one way to satisfy both Big Scientists and Universalists is to have, in effect, two networks, achieved by ‘overlaying’ lower-bandwidth networks onto an NREN-like backbone. ‘These high-end and low-end visions of the NREN are strikingly different. There is no assurance that one-size-network fits all. Some important public policy choices will therefore be made, one way or the other,’ he says.”

Biography:

Mitchell Kapor founded the Lotus Development Corporation and also founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore in 1990 in direct response to a threat to free speech. He was an outspoken supporter of open access to the Internet, and was asked to speak in many venues about the issue, including Congressional hearings. (Pioneer/Originator.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1991

Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure

Subtopic: Universal Service

Name of publication: Whole Earth Revue

Title, headline, chapter name: Highways of the Mind or Toll Roads Between Information Castles?

Quote Type: Partial quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Criticisms/hiways_of_mind.article

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry