We are clueless about the ownership of bits. Copyright law will disintegrate … Bits are bits indeed. But what they cost, who owns them, and how we interact with them are all up for grabs.
Predictor: Negroponte, Nicholas
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 column for Wired magazine, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT’s Media Lab, writes about his new book “Being Digital”: ”We are clueless about the ownership of bits. Copyright law will disintegrate. In the United States, copyrights and patents are not even in the same branch of government. Copyright has very little logic: you can hum ‘Happy Birthday’ in public to your heart’s delight, but if you sing the words, you owe a royalty. Bits are bits indeed. But what they cost, who owns them, and how we interact with them are all up for grabs.”
Biography:Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of MIT’s Media Lab and a popular speaker and writer about technologies of the future, wrote one of the 1990s’ best-selling books about the new future of communications, “Being Digital.” (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Copyright/Intellectual Property/Plagiarism
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Being Digital: A Book (P)review
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.02/negroponte_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney