People are accustomed to a certain environment on the Internet and they can’t quite envision a time when the Internet will be a marketplace in which people want to sell valuable products.
Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Newsweek, writers Steven Levy, Katie Hafner and Roger Adams quote Mitch Kapor of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Bruce Lehman, U.S. commissioner of patents and trademarks. They write: ”While legislative efforts to make the Net squeaky clean have gotten all the attention, the question of copyright promises to be, as Lotus Development founder Mitch Kapor puts it, ‘the Vietnam of the Net.’ The interconnectedness of cyberspace works best when there are no barriers to the free movement of words, images and sounds, but originators of these creations understandably want money for their efforts. Almost everybody agrees that new rules are required to restore some balance. But the Clinton administration’s solution, outlined in a recent white paper, wants to apply the old rules, an approach that seems to side so firmly with the copyright owners that Net denizens are alarmed that its provisions will chill the exchange of ideas so essential to the Net. Despite the outcry, the Clintonites aren’t budging. ‘It’s not a culture clash,’ says Bruce Lehman, the U.S. commissioner of patents and trademarks. ‘It’s that people are accustomed to a certain environment on the Internet and they can’t quite envision a time when the Internet will be a marketplace in which people want to sell valuable products.'”
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: December 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Copyright/Intellectual Property/Plagiarism
Name of publication: Newsweek
Title, headline, chapter name: The Year of the Internet
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 26
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney