It will have a negative effect on individual freedom and liberty. It might even encourage contempt for law enforcement on the digital network, since strong cryptographic algorithms are already available in software, freely reproducible by all who desire, regardless of where they live or work.
Predictor: Hoffman, Lance
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for Communications of the ACM [Association for Computing Machinery], Lance Hoffman writes about Internet security issues, and the Clipper Chip, which would allow government access to secure documents: ”If the government adopts (or, as it appears now, decrees) such a ‘Digital Volstead Act,’ there will be some benefit to law enforcement. In the long term however, it will have a negative effect on individual freedom and liberty. It might even encourage contempt for law enforcement on the digital network, since strong cryptographic algorithms are already available in software, freely reproducible by all who desire, regardless of where they live or work.”
Biography:Lance Hoffman, a professor at George Washington University, was a security expert and the author of the 1994 National Science Foundation paper “Civilizing Cyberspace: Priority Policy Issues in a National Information Infrastructure” in addition to many other research pieces in the 1990s. He wrote the book “Rogue Programs: Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses” (Van Nostrand Rheinhold, 1990). (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Communications of the ACM
Title, headline, chapter name: Clipping Clipper
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/170000/162691/p15-hoffman.pdf?key1=162691&key2=1570386401&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=8432854&CFTOKEN=30533066
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Johnson, Kathleen