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 is community strategic analyst
for Yahoo! Inc., developing and supporting online
communities, focusing on next-generation
identity/privacy, reputation and groups
technologies and open APIs. For more than 30
years, he has been designing, building and
managing online social media systems and related
platform technologies. He co-created one of the
first message boards, the first graphical virtual
worlds with avatars and virtual currencies, the
first online information marketplace, the first
fully distributed virtual world platform, the
first no-plug-in web session platform, and Yahoo!
360°.
What is your
greatest fear for the future of networked
technologies? My biggest fear is that
the human equation will be lost in the
technological discussion. That sometimes it's
easier to talk about the technical problems
because they seem to be solvable, and then the
human problems, the political problems get swept
under the rug.
What is your most
fervent hope for the future of networked
technologies? What I have dedicated my
career to, and that is the improvement of
relationships between men. I see the current
computing environment – internet being a
really good example - is a great way to
facilitate communications between people: to
resolve issues, to perform commerce, and to
generally do good works.
What technology
will have the greatest impact on our everyday
lives the next 10 years? When computing
becomes a part of your everyday interaction. When
your cell phone device becomes more PDAish and
now you have access to everything… There
are so many interesting challenges …
technology is out-advancing policy changes, and I
expect that to continue. People are trying to
catch up … There are now signs on store
counters saying "no cell phone
conversations" and what they're talking
about is when people walk up to buy something we
have to retrain people that it is rude to the
person trying to take your cash is that it's
rude. I think the biggest changes that are coming
are SOCIAL as a result of technology, because we
all have information with us and not just
communications.
What do you think
policymakers should do to ensure a positive
future for networked technologies? (We
need) a revision to the intellectual property
code. In the United States specifically there
have been ongoing extensions to copyright which
have made it really difficult for people to remix
things that have in effect dropped from the
public domain. So I'd urge them to go to
EFF.org and read (Lawrence) Lessig's
papers on the issues associated with that. And
likewise software patent reform. The current
regime will discourage the creation of software
to advance human causes.
Looking out more
than 10 years, what development will have the
greatest impact on society? The
ubiquitous distribution of technology in the West
and in some places in the East like Taiwan and
Japan. Technology has really rapidly deployed
– mobile technology, specifically. America
is actually behind some Asian countries in
technological deployment, but there are lots of
countries and lots of areas where they're
much further behind. Rich communications tools
specifically, like cell phones in broad
deployment, could have a fundamental effect on
improving freedom across the world.
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