In the future, as the information superhighway looks more like an electronic marketplace, “digital cash” might be vulnerable to theft. “Burglars” might be able to break into a computer and download cash, and “muggers” might be able to rob intelligent agents that have been sent out on the network with cash to purchase information goods.
The Internet of 1998 will provide automatic, secure, and fully private communication, without key escrow, internationally.
Practicing law via the Internet is just around the corner. This has caused much debate.
I believe you can give away a book online and make additional sales … I can’t imagine why anyone would want to download 384 pages, print it out, bind it and carry it around, much less try to sell it to someone.
Writers are going to work much more in teams in the future … We haven’t reached the point where we’ve figured out how you can make a living at it [writing online]. But the power of the network is obvious.
Being on the Internet is a process of reading and writing, so books and publishing should be a real opportunity. And all the wonderful things about the Internet can come later, but if it’s going to grow and spread further, it’s got to be a money-making business.
By this time next year, it’s clear someone will have a real shot at being elected president from a third party, and the reason is because of the Internet, C-Span and talk radio.
Gambling is going to be the killer (application) of the Internet.
Site administrators will better protect users from mass mailers, but said that users need to educate themselves on the realities of the Net and protect their passwords – and use a combination of numbers and letters that can’t be found in a dictionary.
Security will tighten up on the Internet, but not without some (more) pain. Host operating systems will be built, configured, distributed and operated under much tighter constraints than they have been. Firewalls will abound. Encryption will be added to links, routers and various protocol layers. All of this will decrease the utility of the Internet in the short run, but lay the groundwork for broader use eventually.