I argue against the indiscriminate extension of government to the Internet … Due to the nature of the Internet, including its history, culture, amorphousness, and universality, it is quite the impossible to effectively regulate.
Predictor: Wisebrod, Dov
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 research paper, Dov Weisbrod, co-founder and chair of the Legal Group for the Internet in Canada (LoGIC), writes: ”To assert that government is the problem on the Infobahn is to invite reprisal, but it is correct, nonetheless. If the ‘government’ to which the bumper sticker (‘Government: Not the Solution, But the Problem’) refers is the one democratically elected, reprisal must be expected. However, suppose that the statement refers not to a specific government, but rather to an abstract idea of government, and it becomes more meaningful and reasonable. It is the ‘government’ – authority, hierachy, control, and refulation – that truly threatens to be ‘the problem’ on the electronic frontier … I argue against the indiscriminate extension of government to the Internet … Notwithstanding the government’s desire to create a ‘uniquely Canadian’ strategy “respecting our regulatory history,” King Canute had as much success commanding the tides to retreat as a national government will have regulating cyberspace … While the existence of a normative basis for regulating the Internet would be an interesting subject for debate, the excercise has little practical application. Due to the nature of the Internet, including its history, culture, amorphousness, and universality, it is quite the impossible to effectively regulate.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Government
Name of publication: Controlling the Uncontrollable: Regulating the Internet
Title, headline, chapter name: Introduction
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.catalaw.com/dov/docs/dw-inet.htm
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Kildale, Tiffany Ann