The Sixteenth Amendment, passed in 1913 to empower the federal government to collect a tax on incomes, has since fueled the growth of a bloated leviathan, unleashing unchecked inquisitorial powers that are used to pry into the most intimate details of our lives. Not too long after our incomes follow our economic activity into Cyberspace, this inquisition is going to end. Encryption is to the Information Revolution what the Atlantic Ocean was to the American Revolution. It will render tax authorities as impotent in projecting their power as the ocean crossing did to King George.
Predictor: Frezza, Bill
Prediction, in context:On the web site for DigitaLiberty, co-founder Bill Frezza, a telecommunications industry veteran, takes issue with the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s support of the 1993 Digital Telephony bill and presents his new organization’s view of how the world will change in a networked communications age. Frezza writes: ”The Sixteenth Amendment, passed in 1913 to empower the federal government to collect a tax on incomes, has since fueled the growth of a bloated leviathan, unleashing unchecked inquisitorial powers that are used to pry into the most intimate details of our lives. Not too long after our incomes follow our economic activity into Cyberspace, this inquisition is going to end. Encryption is to the Information Revolution what the Atlantic Ocean was to the American Revolution. It will render tax authorities as impotent in projecting their power as the ocean crossing did to King George.”
Date of prediction: December 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: Tax Issues
Name of publication: DigitaLiberty
Title, headline, chapter name: The Crucible of Radical Capitalism: How the Information Revolution Will Transform the Politics of Power
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Lexis-Nexis
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney