Because digital media represent a convergence of all previous media in including elements characteristic of print, telephony and other forms of common carriage, and broadcasting, the process of developing a social consensus about the treatment of digital media is especially challenging. I would agree with [Ithiel] de Sola Pool in recommending that the public interest will be best served by a regime which encourages the greatest diversity and hence the greatest public choice. The print model of protection of free speech through the general absence of censorship and government control, as buttressed by the First Amendment, offers the greatest chance of achieving this end.
Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell
Prediction, in context:In a 1992 appearance before a House subcommittee reviewing the management and operation of the National Science Foundation’s NSFNet, Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder Mitchell Kapor states: ”Among the many ultimate uses of the NPN, information and communication applications will be in the first rank. As such, our society will face many of the choices it has faced in the past with the creation of new media such as the telephony and broadcasting. As Ithiel de Sola Pool pointed out so clearly in ‘Technologies of Freedom,’ there are critical choices to be made in the early years of a new medium with regard to the regulatory model to be adopted. The lack of regulation and government ability to control print media stands in sharp contrast to the heavy regulation and control over broadcasting. The development of new digital media based on a national public network will raise these issues once again. Because digital media represent a convergence of all previous media in including elements characteristic of print, telephony and other forms of common carriage, and broadcasting, the process of developing a social consensus about the treatment of digital media is especially challenging. I would agree with de Sola Pool in recommending that the public interest will be best served by a regime which encourages the greatest diversity and hence the greatest public choice. The print model of protection of free speech through the general absence of censorship and government control, as buttressed by the First Amendment, offers the greatest chance of achieving this end.”
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, 1991
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Jurisdiction/Control
Name of publication: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Title, headline, chapter name: The Privatized NREN
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Publications/Mitch_Kapor/privatize_nren_kapor_eff_021491.paper
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney