The same advances in computing which created desktop publishing are delivering “desktop video” which will make it affordable for the smallest business, agency, or group to create video consumables. The NPN must incorporate a distribution system of individual choice for the video explosion. If the cable company wants to offer a package of program channels, it should be free to do so. But so should anyone else … Anyone who wishes to offer services to the public should be guaranteed access over the same fiber-optic cable under the principle of common carriage. From this access will come the entrepreneurial innovation
Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell
Prediction, in context:In a September 1991 submission to the Network Working Group’s Request for Comments (Request for Comments 1259), Mitchell Kapor, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, writes: ”The same advances in computing which created desktop publishing are delivering ‘desktop video’ which will make it affordable for the smallest business, agency, or group to create video consumables. The NPN [National Public Network] must incorporate a distribution system of individual choice for the video explosion. If the cable company wants to offer a package of program channels, it should be free to do so. But so should anyone else. There will continue to be major demand for mass-market video entertainment, but the vision of the NPN should not be limited to this form of content. Anyone who wishes to offer services to the public should be guaranteed access over the same fiber-optic cable under the principle of common carriage. From this access will come the entrepreneurial innovation, and this innovation will create the new forms of media that exploit the interactive, multimedia capabilities of the NPN.”
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: September 1, 1991
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Open Access
Name of publication: Requests For Comments
Title, headline, chapter name: Building the Open Road: The NREN As Test-Bed for the National Public Network
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Publications/Mitch_Kapor/nren_npn_nii_kapor_eff.rfc
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney