The idea is to go further than the Open Platform, further than the National Information Infrastructure. The idea is to reclaim Washington … The Net, the very network itself, you see, is merely a means to an end. The end is to reverse-engineer government, to hack Politics down to its component parts and fix it.
Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, Joshua Quittner writes about the key members of the cyberspace lobbying group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, including Mitchell Kapor. Quittner writes: ”Al Gore credited Mitch Kapor, EFF’s chairman and co-founder, with helping draft the blueprint for the National Information Infrastructure … If you listened to the vice president’s first major address on overhauling the nation’s telecommunications policy, way back in December 1993, or read the administration’s white paper, you might agree: An EFF concept was the keystone of the whole thing. It’s barely a metaphor, and neither as sexy sounding as the electronic frontier nor as overused as the national information superhighway, but there it is, the Open Platform – a model for how telephone companies, cable companies, newspapers, TV stations, and your mom will all interconnect in one seamless web of point-to-point, peer-to-peer harmony. With equal access for all … The idea is to go further than the Open Platform, further than the National Information Infrastructure. The idea is to reclaim Washington. It all makes sense when you consider that four of the ten board members are hackers, software people used to methodical problem solving. Start with one simple statement, add it to another until, the next thing you know, you have millions of lines of code that run the whole damn space shuttle. How hard could it be to hack government? Kapor himself has been talking a lot lately about a ‘floating academy,’ an EFF evangelistic entity on the Net, spreading the word, propagating the vision of what the New World could be. The Net, the very network itself, you see, is merely a means to an end. The end is to reverse-engineer government, to hack Politics down to its component parts and fix it.”
Biography:Mitchell Kapor founded the Lotus Development Corporation and also founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore in 1990 in direct response to a threat to free speech. He was an outspoken supporter of open access to the Internet, and was asked to speak in many venues about the issue, including Congressional hearings. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: The Merry Pranksters Go to Washington: They Helped Steve Jackson Games Hand the Feds a Stinging Defeat in Court. Their ‘Open Platform’ Proposal is the Heart of Gore’s Infobahn Policy. They Lead the Coalition Fighting the Clipper Chip. In Short, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is the Preeminent Defender of Our Civil Rights in Cyberspace. But Just Who Are These People?
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.06/eff_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney