What is free speech, and what is merely data? What is a free press without paper and ink? What is a “place” in the world without tangible dimensions? How does one protect property which has no physical form and can be infinitely and easily reproduced? Can the history of one’s personal business affairs properly belong to someone else? Can anyone morally claim to own knowledge itself? These are just a few of the questions for which neither law nor custom can provide concrete answers. In their absence, law-enforcement agencies like the Secret Service and FBI, acting at the disposal of large information corporations, are seeking to create legal precedents which would radically limit Constitutional application to digital media. [It] threatens to become a long, difficult, and philosophically obscure struggle between institutional control and individual liberty.
Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell
Prediction, in context:In the 1990 founding statement for the Electronic Frontier Foundation site, EFF co-founders Mitchell Kapor and John Perry Barlow write: ”William Gibson called this Platonic realm ‘Cyberspace,’ a name which has come currency among its present inhabitants. Whatever it is eventually called, it is the homeland of the Information Age, the place where the future is destined to dwell … Sovereignty over this new world is also not well defined. Large institutions already lay claim to large fiefdoms, but most of the actual natives are solitary and independent, sometimes to the point of sociopathy. It is, therefore, a perfect breeding ground for both outlaws and vigilantes. Most of society has chosen to ignore the existence of this arising domain … Our financial, legal and even physical lives are increasingly dependent on realities of which we have only dimmest awareness. We have entrusted the basic functions of modern existence to institutions we cannot name, using tools we’ve never heard of and could not operate if we had. As communications and data technology continue to change and develop at a pace many times that of society, the inevitable conflicts have begun to occer on the border between Cyberspace and the physical world. What is free speech, and what is merely data? What is a free press without paper and ink? What is a ‘place’ in the world without tangible dimensions? How does one protect property which has no physical form and can be infinitely and easily reproduced? Can the history of one’s personal business affairs properly belong to someone else? Can anyone morally claim to own knowledge itself? These are just a few of the questions for which neither law nor custom can provide concrete answers. In their absence, law-enforcement agencies like the Secret Service and FBI, acting at the disposal of large information corporations, are seeking to create legal precedents which would radically limit Constitutional application to digital media. [It] threatens to become a long, difficult, and philosophically obscure struggle between institutional control and individual liberty.”
Biography:Mitchell Kapor founded the Lotus Development Corporation and also founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore in 1990 in direct response to a threat to free speech. He was an outspoken supporter of open access to the Internet, and was asked to speak in many venues about the issue, including Congressional hearings. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: July 10, 1990
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Jurisdiction/Control
Name of publication: Electronic Frontier Foundation - Founding Statement
Title, headline, chapter name: Across the Electronic Frontier
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Misc/Publications/Mitch_Kapor/electronic_frontier.eff
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney