There are few Khyber Passes on the Internet … and there is no very effective way to grab control of it. Unlike banana republics, it does not have a clear center of authority to take over in a coup. It is a remarkable political invention – a very large-scale structure with significant built-in capacity to resist concentrations of power and authoritarian control … To protect themselves from the outlaws, interlopers, and subversives who may lurk on the wide-open Internet frontier, many commercial and governmental organizations have begun to create “firewalls” … The great power struggles of cyberspace will be over network topology, connectivity, and access – not the geographic borders and chunks of territory that have been fought over in the past.
Predictor: Mitchell, William J.
Prediction, in context:In his 1994 book “City of Bits,” MIT computer scientist William J. Mitchell writes: ”There are few Khyber Passes on the Internet … and there is no very effective way to grab control of it. Unlike banana republics, it does not have a clear center of authority to take over in a coup. It is a remarkable political invention – a very large-scale structure with significant built-in capacity to resist concentrations of power and authoritarian control. But uncontrolled territory has its dangers. To protect themselves from the outlaws, interlopers, and subversives who may lurk on the wide-open Internet frontier, many commercial and governmental organizations have begun to create ‘firewalls’ – secure computers interposed between their internal networks and the Internet outside. As in ancient walled cities, these organizations then have narrow gates that allow traffic to go out but can be defended against unwanted intrusions. So a new logic has emerged. The great power struggles of cyberspace will be over network topology, connectivity, and access – not the geographic borders and chunks of territory that have been fought over in the past.”
Biography:William J. Mitchell was a professor and dean of architecture at MIT and the author of the predictive book “City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn” (1994). He also taught at Harvard, Yale, Carnegie-Mellon and Cambridge Universities. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Open Access
Name of publication: City of Bits
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 6: Bit Biz
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/index.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney