The Clipper Chip … threatens to be either the goofiest waste of federal dollars since President Gerald Ford’s great Swine Flu program or, if actually deployed, a surveillance technology of profound malignancy.
Predictor: Barlow, John Perry
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, John Perry Barlow, a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, writes about the U.S. government and its proposed “Clipper” encryption system: ”On January 11, I managed to schmooze myself aboard Air Force 2. It was flying out of LA, where its principal passenger had just outlined his vision of the information superhighway to a suited mob of television, show-biz, and cable types who fervently hoped to own it one day – if they could ever figure out what the hell it was … The administration’s program, as announced by Vice President Al Gore, incorporated many of the concepts of open competition, universal access, and deregulated common carriage that we’d been pushing for the previous year. But he had said nothing about the future of privacy, except to cite among the bounties of the NII [National Information Infrastructure] its ability to ‘help law enforcement agencies thwart criminals and terrorists who might use advanced telecommunications to commit crimes.’ On the plane I asked Gore what this implied about administration policy on cryptography. He became as noncommittal as a cigar-store Indian. ‘We’ll be making some announcements…. I can’t tell you anything more.’ He hurried to the front of the plane, leaving me to troubled speculation. Despite its fundamental role in assuring privacy, transaction security, and reliable identity within the NII, the Clinton administration has not demonstrated an enlightenment about cryptography up to par with the rest of its digital vision. The Clipper Chip – which threatens to be either the goofiest waste of federal dollars since President Gerald Ford’s great Swine Flu program or, if actually deployed, a surveillance technology of profound malignancy – seemed at first an ugly legacy of the Reagan-Bush modus operandi.”
Biography:John Perry Barlow helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1990 with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members Mitch Kapor and John Gilmore in direct response to a threat to free speech. Barlow’s was one of the loudest voices in the battle to keep the Internet unfettered while still encouraging that it become a tool available to everyone. (Advocate/Voice of the People.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Jackboots on the Infobahn: Clipper is a Last-Ditch Attempt By the United States, the Last Great Power From the Old Industrial Era, to Establish Imperial Control Over Cyberspace
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.04/privacy.barlow_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney