I don’t see the Internet helping the U.S. economy. I think there’ll be a necessity for bit police since bits is bits and bits are free … As we’ve seen with physical goods most of everything we consume is manufactured offshore. With Internet, the bits go offshore, whether you’re writing software or whether you’re answering phones. This is the equivalent of offshore manufacturing for knowledge workers.
Predictor: Bell, Gordon
Prediction, in context:In the keynote speech at InternetWorld 1995, pioneering computer scientist Gordon Bell, formerly of Digital Equipment Corporation and then a research leader at Microsoft, tells of his vision of the next version of the Internet – Internet-3 – concluding his speech by rapidly making a few sweeping generalizations about the future:”I don’t see the Internet helping the U.S. economy. I think there’ll be a necessity for bit police since bits is bits and bits are free. Many carry intellectual property. Lots of countries don’t recognize intellectual property … As we’ve seen with physical goods most of everything we consume is manufactured offshore. With Internet, the bits go offshore, whether you’re writing software or whether you’re answering phones. This is the equivalent of offshore manufacturing for knowledge workers.”
Biography:Gordon Bell proposed a plan for a U.S. research and education network in a 1987 report to the Office of Science and Technology in response to a congressional request by Al Gore. He was a technology leader at Digital Equipment Corporation (where he led the development of the VAX computer) and with Microsoft. (Technology Developer/Administrator)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: InternetWorld 1995 Conference
Title, headline, chapter name: It’s Bandwidth and Symmetry, Stupid!
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://research.microsoft.com/~gbell/IntWorld/tsld002.htm
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney