The customs of the Internet must be applied to achieve a just result. Otherwise real-world law will serve only to create uncertainty as to the legal implications of the Internet activity, which will cause the anarchic new realm of communications to route itself around the law. A better result may be achieved by identifying the limited role of law, and restricting its application to that role … The Internet will not conform to regulation; regulation must therefore conform to the Internet.
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: ”The unanswered question is whether the unique anarchic culture of the Internet will be granted weight in the couse of legal analysis: Is Netiquette, a system defined and enforced by users, sufficient to govern the Internet, or do legal principles of libel remain operative? In other words, will the functional anarchy of the Internet recieve legal endorsement as a capable means of control? … Even if the existing legal regime has application in a civil conflict, the customs of the Internet must be applied to achieve a just result. Otherwise real-world law will serve only to create uncertainty as to the legal implications of the Internet activity, which will cause the anarchic new realm of communications to route itself around the law. A better result may be achieved by identifying the limited role of law, and restricting its application to that role … The Internet will not conform to regulation; regulation must therefore conform to the Internet.”
Date of prediction: March 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Controlling the Uncontrollable: Regulating the Internet
Title, headline, chapter name: Civil Litigation
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