We will be free (within limits) to put on and take off various personae. We will, of course, need to rethink basic questions about authenticity, identity and responsibility, in this context.
Predictor: Johnson, David R.
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 statement about the future of the Internet that is carried on the Electronic Frontier Foundation site, David R. Johnson, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and chairman of the EFF who helped draft the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, writes the ninth of 10 hypotheses on the Internet and law: ”Because the Net allows extremely flexible means of identifying message senders, it will facilitate the creation of pseudonymous and anonymous messaging that brings into question long established notions of human identity. We will be free (within limits) to put on and take off various personae. We will, of course, need to rethink basic questions about authenticity, identity and responsibility, in this context.”
Biography:David R. Johnson was the chairman of Counsel Connect and the co director of the Cyberspace Law Institute in the 1990s. (Legislator/Politician/Lawyer.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Anonymity/Personal Identity
Name of publication: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Title, headline, chapter name: The Future of the Net – As it Pertains to Lawyers
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Legal/future_legal_net_johnson.article
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Fedders, Peter J.