I think the role the government is in now seems to work well – providing access for educational institutions. It also would make a lot of sense for the Postal Service to certify senders and recipients in certain transactions. There’s a huge liability problem with the idea of certification authorities. If the Postal Service takes that role, the liability issue would be nearly zero. Fraud simply would be a criminal offense. If the post office is willing to say, “This person is certified to be who he says he is,” when I run into that person on the Net, I can trust him to be who he says he is – if I trust the post office.
Predictor: Andreessen, Marc
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in Government Computer News, associate editor Shawn P. McCarthy interviewed Tim Berners-Lee, designer of the World Wide Web, and Marc Andreessen, developer of the Mosaic browser. They shared their views on the Web and government involvement. In response to the question, ÒHow about government involvement in developing on-line technologies?Ó Andreessen replies: ÒI think the role the government is in now seems to work well – providing access for educational institutions. It also would make a lot of sense for the Postal Service to certify senders and recipients in certain transactions. There’s a huge liability problem with the idea of certification authorities. If the Postal Service takes that role, the liability issue would be nearly zero. Fraud simply would be a criminal offense. If the post office is willing to say, ‘This person is certified to be who he says he is,’ when I run into that person on the Net, I can trust him to be who he says he is – if I trust the post office.Ó
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Role of Govt./Industry
Name of publication: Government Computer News
Title, headline, chapter name: They Made the Web Spun Round the World
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 24
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne