Some joker somewhere is going to build a virus to waylay your agent, beat the hell out of it, and take your money. Maybe the police will maintain a slew of copbots designed to patrol the Net for these kinds of viruses. Maybe, just maybe, you will get your money back. But knowing the way digital cash works, you probably won’t.
Predictor: Barkow, Tim
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 essay for Wired magazine, Tim Barkow, a production editor for Wired, writes: ”Mash together the ideas of agents (automated programs that search the Net for you) and e-cash, and you create the potential for an entirely new kind of crime. When you send out an agent to buy, say, a pair of loafers, you probably throw it 50 bucks for the cost of the shoes and any network tolls it might come across. Some joker somewhere is going to build a virus to waylay your agent, beat the hell out of it, and take your money. Maybe the police will maintain a slew of copbots designed to patrol the Net for these kinds of viruses. Maybe, just maybe, you will get your money back. But knowing the way digital cash works, you probably won’t.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Crime/Fraud/Terrorism
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Jacked on the Wire
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.11/barkow.if_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney