Just how close to digital anarchy we move depends as much on the way we perceive law and order in the datasphere as it does on what’s actually going on. While many young people with modems and personal computers are innocently exploring networks as they would the secret passages in an interactive fantasy game, others are maliciously destroying every system they can get into … No single attitude toward computer hacking and cracking will suffice.
Predictor: Rushkoff, Douglas
Prediction, in context:In his 1994 book “Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace,” Douglas Rushkoff writes: ”Just how close to digital anarchy we move depends as much on the way we perceive law and order in the datasphere as it does on what’s actually going on. While many young people with modems and personal computers are innocently exploring networks as they would the secret passages in an interactive fantasy game, others are maliciously destroying every system they can get into. Still other computer users are breaking into networks with purpose: to gain free telephone connections, to copy information and code, or to uncover corporate and governmental scandals. No single attitude toward computer hacking and cracking will suffice.”
Biography:Douglas Rushkoff, an author, social theorist, journalist and software developer, wrote the book “Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace,” (Harper San Francisco, 1994) a best-selling portrait of the 1990s cyberculture. He edited “The Gen X Reader” (Ballantine, 1994), a collection of writings by the elusive, media-wary “slacker” generation. He also wrote “Media Virus! Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture” (Ballantine, 1994). In the 1990s, he regularly contributed features about pop-culture, media and technology to magazines. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Ethics/Values
Name of publication: Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 16: Cracking the Ice
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 206
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stewart, Ben L.