People from all walks of life still have the opportunity to help shape the eventual form of laws in cyberspace. In fact, the democratic nature of electronic communities coupled with the ever increasing numbers of people joining the Internet require continual change in the application of these legal principles. Because users of electronic communities can determine the rights and duties of their fellow participants via an acceptable-use policy, commonality may be achieved as disparate groups in different networks realize independently similar conclusions regarding how to apply fairness and justice in their electronic community.
Predictor: Harter, Peter
Prediction, in context:Peter F. Harter of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN), made a research presentation at INET ’95, the Internet Society’s 1995 International Networking Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, June 27-30. NPTN was a nonprofit corporation located in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., and served as a parent organization for “free-net” community computer network systems worldwide. Harter says: ”When people access an online computer network, disputes as to what is acceptable use of the system arise … basic legal principles of fairness and justice can be newly applied to disputes which occur between networks. The applications of these legal principles are still evolving, and people from all walks of life still have the opportunity to help shape the eventual form of laws in cyberspace. In fact, the democratic nature of electronic communities coupled with the ever increasing numbers of people joining the Internet require continual change in the application of these legal principles. Because users of electronic communities can determine the rights and duties of their fellow participants via an acceptable-use policy, commonality may be achieved as disparate groups in different networks realize independently similar conclusions regarding how to apply fairness and justice in their electronic community.”
Date of prediction: June 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: ISOC INET '95 (conference)
Title, headline, chapter name: Laws of Electronic Communities & Their Roads: High Noon?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.isoc.org/HMP/PAPER/064/html/paper.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney