A policy of freedom will allow the Internet to evolve naturally and beneficially, becoming the paradoxical sum of its users involvement: a self-controlling, yet uncontrollable, functional anarchy.
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 Internet is truly unique. (Since) its special characteristics are not fully understood by government, attempts to regulate it will fail. It must be remembered, as Ithiel de Sola Pool reminded us, that ‘freedom is also a policy.’ Just as there is a choice to be made in regulating the telecommunications industry between policies of competition and regulation, there exists a choice with respect to the Internet between policies of freedom and regulation. A policy of freedom will allow the Internet to evolve naturally and beneficially, becoming the paradoxical sum of its users involvement: a self-controlling, yet uncontrollable, functional anarchy.”
Date of prediction: March 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Open Access
Name of publication: Controlling the Uncontrollable: Regulating the Internet
Title, headline, chapter name: The Internet and Government
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