The future of the internet in the United States (and for that matter the world) seems, in my opinion, to be gloomy. The internet has (as is somewhat apparent), and will continue to, alienate people. Some people say that the internet brings the world together -- and in some respects, that is correct. For example, in areas of medical research and other helpful areaa, the internet offers a means to communicate information almost instantly -- this is should be commended. However, in other aspects it is separating people greatly insofar as it is doing away with the face-to-face encounters that make life worth something. Rather than leaving their homes to meet someone for business and what have you, people are more inclined and will become more inclined to stay at home. Moreover, the effect on children may very well be devasting. When I was growing up, the best part was being outside playing games, hanging out with friends, etc (I can still remember my mother telling me to go outside and get fresh air). With the internet, people stay inside --G-d forbid they get away from their computer screens and actually do something with their bodies (let's face it, most of the stuff on the internet is absolutely useless). This is probably the greatest threat the internet poses and will continue to pose (and possibly for this reason it could well go the way of the pet rock except, of course, for the practical and useful reasons such as acting as a very advanced form of encylopaedia -- perhaps this means the end of Britannica and Comptons).
The future of the internet also spells (for all intents and purposes) the end of sovereign nations to enforce many of their laws. Some may see this is a good sign; but, I see it as a possible problem for the world. It may very well cause some enormous problems (i.e., governents getting angry at other governments for not enforcing such things as copyright laws, defense secrets and pornography laws). This then leads me to another prediction. The internet is already, and it will only get worse, led to a decay in values. There is too much hate, obscenity and whatnot on it. Do not be surprised if the many world governments find a means to prevent.
However, when it comes to efficiency, the internet does and will continue to offer a means to communicate quickly and thus efficiently. As stated, this ability to trade information around the world has some positive applications and may offer a means to solve insurmountable problems more quickly as well. The question, however, is whether the good can outweigh the bad...
Sullivan & Cromwell in NYC has 400 lawyers, a Novell Netware system, uses Distributed Time Entry for time and billing, and for case management uses InforTrak.
Recently, I spoke to a man who owns a medium size business in Cheshire, Connecticut. He employs about 50 people, and all of his employees have been with him for a long time. His business fosters a down-home, family-type atmosphere, he told me. Recently, there had been a problem with his internal e-mail system. An employee was offended by a correspondence she received from another employee. He asked me if he could ever be held liable for incidents over his internal e-mail system. He said he didn't want to get rid of it--it's too valuable--and he waanted to continue to allow his employees to use the e-mail system for "personal use." He believed it helped to foster the "warm-fuzzy" feeling that helped his business prosper. I suggested, and have since rescinded, to have two types of e-mail within his system. The two types would be distinguished from one another by a large heading--one entitled "Personal E-mail" and the other "For Business PUrposes." I suggested employees would only have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the "Personal E-mail" and that he would have nothing to do with their personal communications. I rescinded the idea due to the case _Smyth v. Pillsbury Co_ 1996 U.S. Dist. Lexis 776 (Jan. 23, 1996). The case held that by voluntarily communicating allegedly unprofessional comments to a second person over the corporate e-mail system, the plaintiff lost any reasonable expectation of privacy.
What does this mean for the legal profession? I think it signifies two phenomenons that have met head-to-head. On the one hand, the Internet is bringing the world closer together. Fast correspondence, 411 on anyone connected to the Internet, tracking down long, lost people, information at the touch of a button. On the other hand, at the same time as Internet users have reached out to make the world smaller, a corresponding backlash of paranoia ensues. Encryption, PGP, anonymous remailers. On the one hand, a large law firm makes the move from a centralized minicomputer system to an interconnected local network. On the other hand, with this move comes network security problems and worries. Are people taking one step forward and two steps back?
A once friendly, family owned business must now define rules and regulations and insist that employees follow them.
At the law school, where I once frequented the library everyday, now I dial-in. All the information I need is at my fingertips in my own home. Is this a step forward or a step back? Is this a good thing--being able to conduct business for the day without *talking* face to face with anyone? What does the lurking in differnet networks from the privace (?) of my own home lead to? I think it might lead to a paranoia. A paranoia that did not exist before the Internet.
Remote access requires passwords. Passwords require PIN numbers. Confidential client information is now accessible...Now, instead of sitting in a conference room with one's colleagues, one tries to erase one's footsteps. Don't back up e-mail messages--delete e-mail messages after ta time certain. Is this fostering communication or hindering it?
As we approach the year 2000, it is obvious that most people recognize the value of a world economy. Any such economy must be accompanied by ideas, and the expressions thereof, so that we can accomodate people in the distant markets we choose to operate in. The Internet is perfect for this exchange.
Not only does the Internet allow a free exchange of ideas, but it is a world market itself. With unlimited exposure, the Internet empowers every person on this planet (assuming access to a computer). Those empowered will experience an unprecedented learning curve that will give new meaning to their lives.
In the year 2000, I anticipate radical differences in the Internet compared to the one we know today. The products and services offered on the internet will nearly reflect, or surpass, those that we presently have access to. The format that these products, services and ideas will be presented in will be "real-time" multimedia. We will see things in 3D as we have never seen them before.
The power-players in the market will be those that have "control". Control of E-cash, control over encryption, control over the distribution and creation of web pages - all sources of revenue that will allow these entities to "own" the Net.
Regulation will undoubtedly be increased. Limited access programs will be the future, where computer accounts will have certain access privileges. You will see only what you are supposed to see.
Authentification systems will be "hot". Net "surfers" want to know precisely who they are talking to. I would project access to certain account files where you can download a photo of the individual; a spec sheet elaborating on physicalities, likes/dislikes and more; and additionally a voice sample so that when communicating with that individual, the Speech Text programs will utilize the voice pattern to make the communication most realistic.
We will soon be released from the limitations our computers subject us to. With the advent of ISDN systems and the use of televisions instead of computer monitors, the access times will approach real-time expectations that we all have.
There will be a "globalization" affect on the Net. Just as countries have homogenized their copyright protection to reflect that of the Berne Convention, so too will countries homogenize their regulations in regards to the Net. Certain things we see today on the Net may not have a place in our future (absent a bootleg/encryption approach where it will be available if you know how to get it).
The world may become surreal as we incorporate the Net into our lives. What we see will not always be reality.
As much as we have "spanglish" in Miami, where individuals randomly mix both the English and Spanish languages together. So too may people randomly mix reality with virtual reality. We will have no boundaries. We will not know pain - only elation. We will travel distant lands without leaving our living room. We will be "virtually perfect".
First let me say that my researc paper, which is substantially longer than 300-500 words (not by much), is on-point as to the future of legal advertising, but since telling you to read it in lieu of this assignment would probally court the dis-favor of prof. Froomkin, I guess I'll have to write some other opinions as to what the future holds for us.
I'm not sure about the rest of the class, but the more information I have learned about the interent the more pissed off I have become. It seems as is the Government is always trying to regulate morals, and I for one am tired of it. No better place can this be seen than the internet. The entire CDA is nothing more than the (supposed) moral majority flexing its muscles. The government is more worried about a child downloading a picture of naked people than it is about that same child buying drugs on the corner. Since when did the government become the rule maker on child rearing. If there is anything that human society has learned it is that children should be brought up by caring, ATTENTIVE, parents. I remember when my parents first got cable and HBO. They wouldn't let me stay up late and watch movies that I shouldn't be watching (i.e. R rated movies and specials). How different is the interent. I would think that moving images of people having sex (for instance - Basic Instinct on HBO) would be much worse than 1 still picture on the internet. Where is the reasoning behind the government's FEAR of the on-line world ? It is much easier for a child to turn on a TV than it is to get on the World Wide Web, download pictures, decode them, and view them. The underlying theme here is FEAR. The government is afraid of technology. Most legislators are not from the generation that has grown up with computers. For them, downloading dirty pictures from the internet is not just morally repelent to them, much as buying Penthouse or Hustler would be, but SCARY because they don't know how to do it !!! I just don't think that Sen. Helms or Sen. Dole has an understanding of how this new technology works. And that is why there is a fear of it. It is easy to talk about turning on and off a television; but start talking about ISP's and ISDN's and the senators are forced to learn an entire new world.
What does this mean ? It means that until we, as the next generation, begin to restructure the current power base in Washington, in the state legislators, in all aspects of government, we will continue to be unheard.
I don't think this will go on for long. People keep talking about a global society. I'm not going to go into what exactly a "global village" is or what I think it should be. What I have realized through my use of the internet is that as the ability to transfer information becomes easier to accomplish between nations and people in different nations, moral barriers will begin to crumble. What is taboo in one country is normal in another. Information that flows freely in some countries is stifled in others. The growth of the internet will force the government to either of two extremes. A COMPLETE free flow of information (as in words, pictures, diagrams, anything that can be transfered into bytes of information) or a police state where every transmission will be monitored (i.e. 1984 - an Orwellian state). When transfering info. on the internet (through either e-mail or FTP or any other method) becomes as common as phone calls the government will have to make those choices.
I hope it makes the right choice. I know I'll do my best to elect those people who understand how computers and the internet work and how useful they can become. In fact, I may run for office myself, so watch out!
The Internet is a boon to the medical professions worldwide. As millions of people around the world work all day in front of computer screens, only to go home at night to continue staring at the images on the WWW, reading lenghthy E-Mail messages and Usenet postings,the Internet is undisputably an opthomologist's dream come true. Orthopedic surgeons must be delighted as well, as carpal tunnel syndrome will no doubt be on the rise. Furthermore, the hypnotic allure of the Internet will likely be the source of new phobias and other psychological disorders, providing therapists and psychiatrists with a new client base.
If my eyesight goes bad, my fingers go numb, and my brain turns to mush, will I have a cause of action against America Online? The Internet is also an ideal medium for mind-control and is a great recruiting tool for cults. Perhaps the Internet will even serve as the basis for a new theory of justification or excuse - I am not responsible for my actions judge, I was under the influence of hypnotic suggestions transmitted through the Internet. Call it the "Internet Syndrome".
The availability of anonymity through remailers offers an unprecedented opportunity for cowards to express their anger at the world. Hate speech, defamation, black-mail, and terrorism have all received a shot in the arm from the the Internet.
Moreover, the Internet is the best friend of pornographers, pedophiles, money- launderers, and purveyors of fraud. Likewise, Tobacco and liquor manufacturers, who have been prevented from advertising in electronic media by federal regulations, have a new ally as ads origionated overseas render these regulations unenforceable.
Technology has always outpaced its regulation, and the Internet is no exception. The above referenced evils have already provided the impetus to the drafting of legislation, however, which seeks to alter the Internet we have grown so fond of. Soon we will be talking about the good old days, when anything was possible on the 'Net.
I for one will lament any curtailment of the Internet, as it has yet to harm me in any way, except for occasional blurred vision.
Furthermore, I am basically a happy person and have no interest in using the Internet to harm anyone, including myself. It remains to be seen how my attitude might change should I become a victim though.
As the world is full of vice, so too is the Internet. We can't hide our heads in the sand or turn back the clock. I say let the Internet reign free, but parents, keep a rein on your kids.
As technology separates civilization from its humanity in a futile attempt at conquering efficiency, the Internet has finally fulfilled its destiny! Has darkness descended upon mankind? While the ever glowing sun above calls for its children to return and worship its presence, humanity has willingly entombed itself in towers of brick, wood, and glass so as to escape the light of day. In effect, becoming cyberphyri or Internet vampires.
Well, as of 1995 twenty-five million Americans had Internet access. And this will change the world? As with any new commodity, such as transportation, electronic communications devices, and even drugs, change and societal acceptance is a gradual movement. The Internet has combined these inventions and apparently achieved its first step toward infecting us all.
First, the Internet is the ultimate transportation. While the McLaren F1 supercar can thrust its occupants to 60 mph in approximately three seconds, and that "transporting energizer" used on Star Trek seems to be even faster (and get better gas mpg than the McLaren F1), the Internet is superior still! By "jacking-in" to the Net a user can establish a presence almost anywhere without even moving from their comfortable chair. This is not transportation you say? Well, I disagree! If transportation is defined as simply getting from point A to point B, then when one arrives at a Web site transportation has indeed taken place. In essence, the user has been transported from point A (the original host computer) to point B (the hopefully desired Web site).Just think of the possibilities! Less cars on the road, thus less of that nasty pollution, hence Porsche might be able to finally certify for emissions its 959 model in America! The EPA will need more money to make up for its loss of revenue as people will no longer need to drive everywhere. Of course, if people stop driving then Porsche, GM, Jaguar, and even Honda will declare bankruptcy. Hell, Amoco might even lower its price on gasoline! Probably not!
Second, the Internet is the ultimate electronic communications device. This, of course, assumes that e-mail ever functions correctly on a reliable basis! Radio enlightened the world at a time when hope was a necessity. Television led to an informational overload in its quest to absord all creativity from mindless viewers. Computers blessed the world with a new "toy" to play games on and a means to process words in various visually appealing styles. Finally, the World Wide Web became a functional reality. The youth abandoned their videogames (sure!), adults turned off C-Span and the nightly news, and even children, or the young at heart, stopped watching cartoons. The Internet granted access to improved and ever bloodier videogames by way of virtual technology. Adults could bore themselves for hours by becoming globally aware after surfing educational sites on the Net. Children could contact Disney and have actual input (cheap labour for Disney) as to a cartoons subject matter, character design, and even dialogue.
Finally, the human race is constantly searching for a better drug! Really, you naively ask? Of course! Coffee, cigs and cigars, sugar, alcohol, narcotics (illegal and over the counter), videogames, skydiving, spending lots of money on worthless trinkets, physical fitness fads, and the list goes on! The greatest addiction may, however, be right at YOUR fingertips: the Internet! Oh, how it lures you in! You innocently visit one Web site. Another is linked. A new idea enters your brain, or is it planted there, and you surf the Net for hours.Of course, the sun has set. Yes, once again you have missed it in your zeal for Net time. Or maybe you are encrypting super secret files for your KGB mole in the Novgorod Region of Russia. You could be just another pervert attempting to download an ever increasing amount of free porn. Maybe, you are actually writing a research paper and desperately need more footnotes, as independent creative thought is generally frowned upon in Law School! Just maybe, you discovered the site of the Hubble Telescope or the Strategic Command Post for Allied Intelligence in the Western Hemisphere. Yes, you are ADDICTED!
The scenario above is a light hearted approach to the Internet and its possibilities. However, despite its all too obvious potential to condemn society to a lifeless existence as cybervamps woh never see the sun again, I do NOT believe that mankind is so spineless! For even now, those assault vehicles (SUVs) that everyone (almost) loves to drive on pavement, rather than in the dirt as they are allegedly designed for, are slowly losing their addictive appeal, so to will the Internet lose its initial charm and become just another "tool" to better help a more uptight and complex world!
THE END?
Where did the downfall of man begin? If I had to pick a year, I'd look all the way back to the mid-1990's; the decade where the omni-present "internet" began to become prevalent in our lives.
Some thought the 'net's greatest impact on society would come from something called "cryptography". Not quite. Sophisticated code-crackers rendered crypto irrelevant by 2010. Actually, it was computerized broadcasting that began the decay of our species.It started innocently enough. A few radio stations allowed access to their broadcasts live over the 'net. A "Marlins fan" (one who followed a team of players of a game called "baseball" -- the game was declared criminally boring in 2021 and subsequently banned from existence) could travel across the continent or the world and still hear live broadcasts of his team's games.
Soon, as modem speed advanced, television stations followed suit. Broadcast servers known as "satellite systems" and "cable companies" died out as stations began to broadcast their programs directly through the 'net.
All notions of localism disappeared as, with the appropriate translators installed, one could just as easily access the news from Shanghai as from South Florida. People conversed regularly with citizens of every nation, every race, every religion.
As national borders fell, many felt that we were entering the Golden Age of Man. The idea of a "global village" had truly taken hold, and prejudices and hatred had fallen by the wayside. If only we had stopped there.
But we didn't. We wanted more information and more entertainment, and we wanted it more quickly, more easily. Movie theaters and video rentals disappeared as films could be instantly accessed over the wires at any time of the day or night. Man was deluged with an endless stream of input flowing out the screen. Movement became less and less necessary. Children accessed their lessons from home, parents did their work from their bedroom terminal. Mankind became melded to their Lay-z-Boy's as automated servers brought them their meals and attached tubes whisked away their waste. All conception was done in a lab.
As our physical activity shrank, our waistlines expanded. As of 2076, a human's average weight reached 376 pounds by the age of eighteen, although our OSI's ("on-screen- images") still portrayed us to each other as stereotypical beauties. In our thirst for information, we ceased creating, ceased caring.
I know of no one who's ever left their chairs. I know of no one who's ever been outside. I've read of times where folks walked in the sun, played in the water, touched another's skin. I have dream where I'm sent back to a time before the 'net, and given the choice of pulling the plug before it ever began. I stand (yes, I'm actually STANDING!) there for what seems like hours, marveling at the power I wield, ready to save mankind from itself.
But then I think -- wait. Screw it. If there was no internet, I could never send you this note quite as quickly and easily.
As we have seen from the assigned readings and class discussion, the advent of the Internet as an everyday medium of communication has challenged the legal profession to rethink areas of the law which were previously thought to be well settled. The determination of what is or is not "speech" is simply the current hot issue to arise from the electronic communication revolution. Certainly, as the Internet continues to develop and expand, old ways of understanding legal issues and concepts will be challenged and changed. However, it is my opinion that the practical effect of the Internet on the practicing lawyer will be much different and much more profound. I believe that access to the Internet will have two significant, but somewhat interrelated, effects on the legal profession. First, I feel that the Internet will begin to even the playing field between the large law firm and the sole practitioner, and second, access to the Internet will dramatically increase the amount and type of information available to the practicing lawyer.
Unlike large firms, few sole practitioners can afford to utilize legal research services such as Lexis or Westlaw, afford to pay numerous first year associates a lawyers salary to sit in a law library and do research, or develop significant in-house libraries of their own. My experience has been that sole practitioners, as well as many small law firms, do not have the information gathering resources available to the larger firms. Access to the Interet is already beginning to change that. As each day goes by, new sources of legal information are appearing online. Lawyers can access a number of legal periodicals, including treatises and Law Review Articles, through the Internet. Seacheable databases for legal information are beginning to appear and expand, and there is some movement toward retrieving cases and statutes directly from the internet, rather than through Lexis and Westlaw. While it is true that there is no resource yet available that allows an attorney to search through cases and statues likethey can on Lexis and Westlaw, the ability to obtain practical information without the need to leave the office or send an associate or law clerk can only enhance the sole practitioner's ability to handle complex transactions and litigation. I hope for, and anticipate, the day when an attorney can do all of their legal research just by connecting to the Internet.More important, in my opinion, than the ability to conduct legal research online, is the fact that the Internet makes a significantly greater amount of general information available to the average lawyer. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) maintains a World Wide Web (WWW) site that allows anyone to search through public filings. Rather than having to contact the SEC to check for filings and then having to request a hard copy be mailed or faxed, an attorney can downlaod a full text copy of SEC filings from their office computer. Along these lines,
I anticipate that more services, such as individual State databases of UCC filings, and perhaps even access to County Recorder's records, will be ultimately be made available through the Internet. The advantage to having such information close at hand is that it allows the attorney to respond much quicker to a client's questions and concerns. Such an advantage also goes hand in hand with the sole practitioner's attorney's ability to offer the same or similar services that the larger firms can provide.
The extent of the information available to an attorney is not limited to the retreival of public documents. Often client's have a need for general information about individuals or companies that they are contemplating doing business with. It is unbelievable how much corporate information is available through the Internet. An attorney can get volumes of information on relatively small corporations through many databases on the Internet. Also, many companies, both large and small, maintain WWW pages and it is amazing how much information they are willing to disseminate about the company and themselves. Often times you can get the names and histories of all of the principal officers of a corporation, as well as the companies financial history, right on the companies own WWW page.
In addition to all of the resources previously outlined, an attorney can also use the Internet as a way to supplement their knowledge of the law, keeping up to date on new trends and developments in the areas in which they practice, as well as finding many educational resources to aid in their own continuing legal education. When I first entered law school, I was told that a lawyer never stops learning, that the law is constantly evolving, and that a good attorney always endeavors to keep up to date on those changes. While working as a law clerk for the past two years, I have seen this aspect of the legal profession in action on a daily basis. I believe that, as the Internet continues to make it possible for even the smallest practitioner to access to information, almost the instant it is published, with just the click of a mouse button, the practice of law will be significantly altered. In the near future, a lawyer who does not have access to the Internet will be at a decided disadvanted as compared to those who do.
Before I get into my discussion of how the internet will change the world I would like to suggest that anyone who is not familiar with Scientific American's 50 & 100 years ago section get a copy and take a look at it. No doubt you will see some of the most absurd predictions about the future made by some of the greatest minds of science. With that in mind here I go.
Commerce & Economy
The internet will continue to grow as a medium for doing business. Within a short period of time business transacted with electronic wealth will become a substantial, if not the predominate, method of commerce. While this is happening a quite revolution will occur in cryptoanalysis. Businesses will need to hire the best and brightest cryptographers to assure that their interests in secure transaction are protected. A loophole will be found in the implementation of the encryption used for electronic wealth, or in the encryption itself. Armed with this knowledge a small group of individuals will wreck havoc on the world economy. Nations will clamor and confidence will be lost in electronic wealth, unfortunately a significant portion of the world's wealth will exist only in the electronic form. Debtor nations, citing the breach, will no longer honor their debts. Creditor nations will be able to pick and choose which of their debts to claim are a result of the encryption breach and which to honor.
Privacy
As the internet reaches more homes in more countries individuals and governments will move to try to suppress the proliferation of morally abhorrent internet crimes. Armed with years of evidence that the internet is being utilized by a small percentage of people to distribute child pornography, subversive literature, and forbidden religious thought nations will band together to work on the eradication of anonymity. International treaties will be drawn up that mandate protocols be developed that require information about the originating IP address in order to route messages. Everyone will be assigned a specific IP address to deal with the uncertainty dynamic IP addressing creates.
Smart agents that can decrypt data streams will monitor and compile databases on who is sending what to whom. Use of unbreakable encryption will be criminalized by international treaty. The internet will continue to consolidate many diverse methods of getting/distributing information like telephony, email, ecash, etc. This will put Governments in a much better position to monitor what each and everyone of their citizens are up to at any give moment. Truly totalitarian governments will rise up for the first time in history.
Globalization of the world
Because of inherent problems with teleconferencing with large groups of people text based conferences will still thrive. People will be forced to learn to communicate with each other in a common text based language. This ability to communicate with each other will be the first step in knocking down international borders and will bring us that much closer to a single world goverment.
Mon, 22 Apr 1996 00:04:02 -0400
The future of the United States, after a more complete integration of the Internet, may appear to be somewhat indefinite. There are many possibilities which may occur, both positive and negative. However, I believe that the net effect of the Internet (no pun intended) will likely be very positive. With just the press of a button, people will be able to order any food or consumer good, correspond with any person anywhere in the world, watch any movie at any time, or examine almost any piece of information known to mankind (once someone indexes it all).
On a more intellectual level, participation in the government will increase, but probably not to the level of a "true" democracy. The increase in participation will likely take the form of more active voting by a greater percentage of the population. This will encompass voting not just for presidential elections, but for any type of political decision contemplated by any elected official. All people, even the laziest and most non-politically oriented, will have an extremely simple way to vote.
Furthermore, as more people become familiar with the Internet, a more diverse wealth of information will be exchanged and more open discussions will evolve. The Internet is a very unique forum in that all people can advance their ideas without facing the bias or prejudice of others in regard to their race, religion or ethnicity. This will allow people in different parts of the country with very different backgrounds to learn about and relate to one another (I hope I'm not being too optimistically naive).
However, there is also a potential down side to the Internet. Some visualize the possibility of an anarchic society where the government has lost control and anonymity reigns. It is true that the wide availability and potential uses of encryption on the Internet will likely allow more criminal activity to slip past authorities. For example, encrypted e-mail can be used as the rough equivalent of an untappable and, with the use of anonymous servers, almost untraceable phone call. Unfortunately, the government will compound the problem by either attempting to prevent the use of encryption (which is almost impossible) or by attempting to bypass it using some type of technology that is not yet in existence (such as the box in the movie "Sneakers"). Either method will hinder the growth of the Internet and therefore serve only to postpone the realization of its potential.
Mon, 22 Apr 1996 04:43:34 -0400 (EDT )
The Internet has proven to be a magnet for the consumer marketing industries. Searches on many sites on the WWW will produce several advertisements for mail order type products and services, which were generally only found in magazines or on late night TV. The expansion of these type enterprises and of similar enterprise which focus on web related services will likely dominate the bulk of web sites in the near future. In essence the web will become, in the short run, a world wide classified section. What this means to consumers and to the legal community is an increase in consumer fraud, mail fraud, and other crimes of misleading or fraudulent information.
There will be several on-line sites claiming to offer low cost legal advice (see http://www.crediter.com/cyberlaw) and medical advice. This brings up issues of jurisdiction, bar regulations, and malpractice. Also, questions of the unlicensed practice of law or medicine will arise. There will also be complications of the attorney advertising and solicitation rules. More importantly, with the availability of client or patient information on-line, attorneys and doctors may be able to perform their respective duties more efficiently. However, this will lead to increased security requirements and confidentiality concerns.
On the positive side, the availability and timeliness of information services will be drastically improved. Top news publications and broadcasters will have information on the web almost instantaneously. Major corporations will be able to release information on products and services to consumers, finances and developments to stockholders, and improve communcations with domestic and foreign affiliates. The effect on commerce and development in this area will increase productivity and efficiency. International commerce will, perhaps, have the most noticeable changes. Simply by allowing smaller foreign companies access to the US market. The effect of this on corporate councel is that they will need to acquire a considerable knowledge of the internet and the technologies involved, particularly in the area of security of information transmitted over the internet. Also, attorneys with a second or third language will be in greater demand.
I predict that the overall longterm effect of the internet will be similar to that of most other technological improvements. It is one more step towards the maximization of resources. Increased efficiency in commercial enterprise will not only be noticed with large companies, small business and sole proprietorships will be more capable of competing in the marketplace. Yes, this includes sole practitioners in the law.
Hmm, what will the internet bring us in the future: will it change our profession as a lawyer, will it change our daily lifestyle, or will we face a smaller world (cyber-village)? Tough questions, but no real answers! A lot of different subjects were addressed in this week's reading list, and I had the impression that most of them were rather superficially discussed. For example, the internet will reduce the government's ability to tax us. I disagree. Cryptograghy will lead to a lawless and social disorder. I disagree. Our life will still be physical and real. The internet is a new media and many legal rules are not settled yet. However, this does not mean that no legal rules exist. Furthermore, this does not mean that we will live in cyberspace. I will never drink a cybercoffee or eat a cyberstake. Although I can meet new people on the internet, will this be a substitute for real life human relationships? Certainly not. We see that cyberspace - although a fascinating tool - is somehow limited. Well, lets turn now to the issue what the internet is and what we use it for, rather than dreaming about it. This will help us to realize in which direction the internet will go. The internet is actually (just) a new device of communication and nothing more. It allows us to exchange information with people and companies from all over the world at low costs. For example, I can read the latest news in Japan, I am able to see how full the coffe pot in a Cambridge University office is (http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/temp/), or I can step in someone else's shoes (netcam). All very need and fun stuff, but so what if I don't know anybody in Japan, if I have no contacts to Cambridge University, or if I don't know Mr. Netcam? It quickly becomes boring! Thus cyberspace is a exciting and powerful tool of communication, but the need to communicate is based and dictated in the real world. Or in other words: the internet will facilitate our daily communication, but it will not bring us any closer. Cybervillage is an illusion. The rest is pure amusement. But don't believe that I don't like amusment!
The United States will see many of the intelligence advantages they previously enjoyed neutralized through the internet. The internet is a powerful tool for both people who want to follow the law and people who want to avoid the law. With highly complicated and almost unbreakable cryptographic codes available and to be available U.S. intelligence will have to change to keep their advantage in the future.
Foreign or domestic terrorists can use the internet as a means to communicate with each other with minimal threat of government intrusion. For instance, a group planning to conduct a bombing similar to the one in Oklahoma City could use encrypted e-mail to make plans with minimal threat of eavesdropping.
E-mail encryption systems have advanced to the point that it takes many hours to unencrypt sophisticated codes. If the U.S. government is unable to neutralize this advantage, (as the situation currently appears) then terrorist groups will enjoy an unprecedented freedom from government monitoring.
For example a group could carry out a whole plan among many people through e-mail and the government would not be able to find out until it was too late.
On the other hand, if terrorists increasingly resorted to the internet as a means of planning attacks, the government could use the technology as an advantage. Although e-mail decryption is time consuming it is not impossible. Any messages coming from a source could be monitored although not as successfully as with traditional telephone tracing.
If the government discovered the online identity of a suspected terrorist, the perceived anonymity of the internet may lull the terrorist into a false sense of security. Anonymous remailers and many websites have discoverable logs which could be used as a method of monitoring the online activity of suspected criminals.
Overall, the internet is a technological tool, like any other, which can be used to further or break the law. As in other areas, the creative criminals usually discover the way to take advantage of a new technology, and law enforcement must react.
The world has clearly already changed as a result of the Internet. Simply being able to share information over a wide area at high speeds has increased productivity in the scientific community a thousand times over in the past twenty years. Now, we find ourselves in a world where the boring text of the past has been replaced with interactive graphics. Indeed, the Internet has become an audio and video experience the likes of which the world has never seen.
The future of the Internet holds incredible promise for human society. We have in fact created a world within a world, a cyberplanet within a physical one, where there are no borders, no nations, and no one government. All communication involves simply streams of ones and zeros in limitless variations, allowing us to create virtual communities within this cyberplanet independent of the corporeal one. Virtually any manner of writing or collaboration, voice or data, which people do together either in business or in personal relationships, is or will be possible over the Internet. No matter where you are in the world, the Internet allows people to work or play together as if they were in the same room. This is not to say we will lose all interpersonal contact, certainly a negotiation or conversation is much different in person. But the Internet will allow us to enhance our relationships. A phone conversation today, will in five years be a face to face videophone conversation, an exchange of fax messages back in forth for edit and re-edit (anyone who has worked on a contract negotiation can tell you how time consuming that can be) will become real-time collaboration over the Internet.
It is necessary however to take care not to repeat the mistakes of our physical past in our cyberfuture. We in our North American conceit have neglected to realize that the rest of the world does not necessarily see the Internet as we do. Clearly, at present, while one can access various databases all over the world, one must have a command of the English language in order to use the Internet efficiently. This in itself is not a bad thing, nevertheless, it is important to advocate English as the international language of the Web, rather than allowing it to become some sort of cyber-neocolonialism. The following quote from the April 14, 1996 New York Times, page E5, provides a telling example:
"It is far easier for a Russian language speaker with a computer to download the works of Dostoyevsky translated into English to read than it is for him to get the original in his own language."
Surely, there is a perfectly plausible economic explanation for why this is true. Moreover, learning English seems like a reasonable investment in order to use such an incredible tool. The issue however, is how much we as connoisseurs of the Internet will do to bring the rest of the physical world into our mostly Western, mostly North American cyber-world.
There also seems to be considerable fear that as we enter the cyber-world, we lose our the privacy which we enjoy in the physical world. This is true to some extent. No doubt the practice of data mining is an instructive example of how where we go, and what we do on the Internet becomes, quite simply a matter of public record. Not that this is so different from our physical existence, we travel to shopping malls and have our images recorded on video, we use credit cards to purchase things, records of our financial dealing are readily available to anyone with access to LEXIS or the gumption to physically search public records. In contrast with the view that the Internet will reduce privacy, it might very well increase it. On the Internet one can send mail anonymously, and soon one will most likely be able to go shopping and pay for goods , and travel the web, anonymously.
By far the greatest challenge our global cyber-society will face as we enter the new millennium is how to balance our privacy with the inherent risks of allowing full anonymity, and the technology to create indecipherable encrypted data, to become available to the global public. I have the utmost faith that we will find that balance, and allow the free-flow and exchange of ideas, while ensuring the security of both the cyber and physical worlds.
The Internet will create an enormous demand for editors. There will be so much stuff sloshing around out there that no one will have time to read it. The people who will get rich off it will be the ones who cna produce personalized "Internet Times" every morning.
Strong encryption will be banned in most countries of the world within ten years.
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 10:56:57 -0400
Subject: Future Watch
Already the Net has changed the world and made it a little smaller,
connecting people and ideas from all across the planet. As more and more
people come online, the cultural evolution of our species will become an
even more prominent factor in our future direction. On the Net, ideas can
travel quickly, mutate, develop and slowly evolve into more productive
ones, facilitating people's lives and endeavors. I'm sure that not only
will the good ideas be passed along, but the bad and immoral ones will as
well. Hate groups now have a more efficient way of expanding their bases,
but in perspective, so do the better forms of conduct.
I would think that the information foundation that is available online will
continue to grow exponentially, until much of the world's information is
available via the Web. Already I can access declassified documents from the
Soviet government from the luxury of my home office. Before, I might not
have ever been able to reach that information. The Internet will serve as
the largest repository of information, a mega database capable of linking
most available information in the world - in essence, the biggest library
imaginable. And everyone will have library card and be able to browse vast
amounts of information. The 2 problems I foresee in all this are 1) access
- will everyone continue to place the information out there for free? 2)
How will we be able to keep track of all the information sources - this
needs the largest library card catalogue imaginable. Search engines are
wonderful but can they solve the problem in the most efficient manner?
I also forsee a change in the way we communicate with people. As the
telephone changed the American and eventually global culture, so will the
Internet. Email will largely replace the US mail system and I can forsee a
large downsizing in personnel at the post office (maybe there will be less
gunfire as a result :-). The post office will still serve to carry packages
and other info and so won't become obsolete, but as I look through my mail,
I notice that a good 90% of it could have easily been eliminated through
the use of email. This keeps down pollution tremendously (no paper waste,
no automotive pollution from the delivery and transport, etc.). Email is
fast, efficient, nonpolluting and allows for "conversations" much more than
letters do. Already I have contacts (or penpals) from all over the country
and now world. I am exposed to ideas and information much faster and in a
greater volume. No longer do I have to wait for word-of-mouth to wind its
way down to me. I can be in on the action as it happens.
The other way the Internet will change the way we do things is through the
business world. More and more people will telecommute to work, as
environmental, family, and travel concerns become even weightier. Allowing
people to do work from home or from another part of the world will reduce
traffic, increase international ventures, and possibly localize people (as
we stay near home much more rather than traveling all over for business).
Also, krore and more businesses are going online and beginning to serve a
clientel via the Net. I don' think it will ever replace direct consumer
contact but it shouldlargely replace the catalogue/mail-order business and
will impact the television shopping arena like QVC and the Home Shopping
Club.
I see the change largely for the good as access to information (in my mind)
is the best goal a society can have. As books and libraries have chnaged
the ability of man to store and utilize information, so will the Net.
Computers were another huge step from the written storage systems,
increasing our access to information a thousand-fold. This will multiply
that factor by another order of magnitude.
*********************
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 14:25:24 -0400
Subject: The Future as I See It...
The center can not hold.
Twelve weeks ago I had never visited the realm of cyber space. I knew
no difference between the WWW and the internet. I had never heard of the
White Paper, cryptographic protocols, PGP, ISP's, virtual casinos,
"Net-Nanny", Netscape, or "Scientology-Gate". Today I know...and I despair.
With cyber-space technology man has finally succeeded in creating the
vehicle of his own destruction. This destruction will manifest itself in
both the short-term and the long-term.
It seems illogical, counter-intuitive to argue that the benefits
offered by the internet and its progeny are less than desirable. It is the
conduit for cheap, limitless exchange of knowlege and education. Cyber-space
provides a forum for exchange of ideas and viewpoints that is essentially
un-censorable. It improves the speed of communication, allows for a myriad
of entertainment alternatives, etc. However, the advent of the internet
completely and totally sever the ability of the individual human being to
control his own life. Increasingly we will depend on a technology that is
incomprehensibly complex run by individuals whom we have no ability to
influence or question.
In the short-term cyberspace technology will shake the very foundations
of organized political systems. Indeed even the concept of the nation-state
will be eroded. Our govenment, our legal system, our constitution is
ill-equipped to address the problems created. It goes without saying that
any attempts to control what we know as "Black Market" activities will be
pathetic and useless. How can a system that provides anonymous remailers,
public-key encryption, et. al. be policed. How can the U.S. legal system
stop the flow of pornography, illegal gambling, money-laundering, etc.
without a complete and total overhaul of constitutional protections. It can
not. This is only the beginning...the tide of cyberspace technology will
only continue to advance. The attempts thus far by the octagenarian bufoons
in our government to regulate this technolgy have been laughable. (SEE THE
CDA, oh and by the way, FUCK.)
The long-term offers an even more bleak outcome. Whether governments
find a way to exist...to nail down an uneasy peace with this technology is
essentially irrelevant. The world, man, will no longer operate in a physical
plane to any significant extent. Money will no longer exist in tangible
form, personal communication will be unnecessary, corporations will no longer
have to give vacation time since any individual will be able to pack in two
or three weeks of experience into a two to three hour "virtual trip" complete
with a in-person visit with the "virtual Queen of England". Those who choose
not to take advantage of this resource (if this were indeed possible) will be
ostracized from society, treated as freaks or mad-men. I'm not a religous
man, but has anyone heard of the Revelation of St.John? As a Cornell man it
pains me to acknowledge that a guy from Harvard may have been on the right
track after all...
********
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 22:31:22 -0400 (EDT)
One tends to associate a sense of permanency with goods or
services that are "household names." Examples include Gallo Wines,
Coca-cola, Kleenex, H & R Block, and McDonald's. All these products and
services, however, did not become part of the collective consciousness
overnight. Through intense advertising, flooding the market, and even
word of mouth, these products finally achieved their successive niches.
The Internet today is now a household name. The peculiarness of
this phenomenon, however, is the rapidity with which the Internet has
infiltrated the average household. Less than two years ago, hardly
anyone knew what the Internet was, or what it meant to surf the Net.
Now, no one topic is the subject of more newspaper and magazine articles,
television documentaries, books, and law school classes. The arrival of
the Internet has been forceful and thorough, and is the harbinger of a
brave new world that, like it or not, we all must learn to accept. The
Information Age is here.
As more people install computers in their homes and find their
careers on the line if they do not learn their way around a keyboard and
hard drive, the Internet will extend its scope. The world will become
"smaller" as the Internet becomes larger. Movies like "Strange Days" and
"The Net" are in several ways prophecies of the future.
We studied several topics this semester. The most pressing
issues, in my opinion, are Digital Commerce, Privacy Rights, Encryption
Controls, and Jurisdiction. However, the speedy influx of the Internet
into all walks of life continues to change the underlying concerns of
these topics. We will be hard-pressed to keep up, but someone must.
Hopefully, as more Americans learn the art of the Net, by market exposure
or hearing about it from their neighbors, this country and the world will
not be engulfed to the point where the Internet is a great product, but
is feared and shunned because of its technical intricacy. If that
happens, it will be up to individuals like ourselves (not necessarily lawyers in particular, but "Net
Scholars" in general) to quell their fears, and effectively "market" the
product. This class has given us the tools to do that marketing, and we,
as students of the Internet, will tell our friends and relatives to
welcome the Net, not fear it.
The more things changes, the more they stay the same.