Let the software and hardware providers come up with encryption solutions and compete on the open market to meet providers’ and individuals’ needs. Any kind of top-down approach, such as the government’s mandated standard, has the problem of not really letting the market work to make the technology truly efficient … Government should declare victory and get out; I think that’s a fairly good assessment on building the information highway.
Predictor: Godwin, Mike
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Infosecurity News, David Bernstein asks Mike Godwin, counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, about the government’s role in setting security standards on the information superhighway. Godwin replies: ”I think the best approach to encryption is to let the market function properly. Let the software and hardware providers come up with encryption solutions and compete on the open market to meet providers’ and individuals’ needs. Any kind of top-down approach, such as the government’s mandated standard, has the problem of not really letting the market work to make the technology truly efficient. There is a real convergence of people on the one hand who represent business interests in security, and on the other hand who represent civil liberties interests in privacy, to really oppose government standards. [Electronic Frontier Foundation Chairman] Mitch Kapor has said that government should declare victory and get out; I think that’s a fairly good assessment on building the information highway.”
Biography:Mike Godwin was an attorney specializing in Internet issues and the outspoken chief counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the cyber-liberties organization in the 1990s. (Legislator/Politician/Lawyer.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Infosecurity News
Title, headline, chapter name: Infohighway Security Viewpoints
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 18
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty