There is an incredible potential for international friction in the fact that the Net is neither centralized nor censored. What happens when some college prankster posts chapters from “The Satanic Verses” to soc.culture.iranian? Not only do we not yet have solutions for these kinds of problems, but we also have relatively few policy experts who recognize that these are problems. But whenever problems begin to arise routinely from human interaction, it’s a safe bet that lawyers will soon appear.
Predictor: Godwin, Mike
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for Internet World, Mike Godwin, chief counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, outlines issues in regard to law and the Internet. Godwin writes: ”I can only suggest the range of legal issues that will face us in the coming years and decades. For example, I’ve said nothing about the complex jurisdictional problems that are created when people routinely can commit acts in one country that lead to harmful effects in a country on the other side of the globe. The Net is multijurisdictional, yet international law has yet to show the kind of robustness, nor has it earned the kind of support, to be a reliable guide to the legal framework of global networked communications. What’s more, there is an incredible potential for international friction in the fact that the Net is neither centralized nor censored. What happens when some college prankster posts chapters from ‘The Satanic Verses’ to soc.culture.iranian? Not only do we not yet have solutions for these kinds of problems, but we also have relatively few policy experts who recognize that these are problems. But whenever problems begin to arise routinely from human interaction, it’s a safe bet that lawyers will soon appear. Disturbing as this fact may be to those of us who see ‘lawyer’ as a synonym for ‘trouble,’ it’s also a sign that the electronic frontier is becoming civilized – it takes a civilization to require laws, and to enforce them.”
Biography:Mike Godwin was an attorney specializing in Internet issues and the outspoken chief counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the cyber-liberties organization in the 1990s. (Legislator/Politician/Lawyer.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Jurisdiction/Control
Name of publication: Internet World
Title, headline, chapter name: The Law of the Net: Problems and Prospects
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Publications/Mike_Godwin/law_of_the_net_godwin.article
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney