The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It

Two evenings ago we heard cyberlaw scholar Jonathan Zittrain speak on some of the topics in his book, “"The Future of the Internet -- And How to Stop It” at an Electronic Frontier Foundation event at CNET.

Best known for his work with the Open Net Initiative, a project that monitors the online filtering and surveillance actions of government’s, Zittrain also worked as co-counsel under Lawrence Lessig in the 1998 court appeal, Eldred vs. Ashcroft - a case that unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act. Possibly the most defining copyright case in America, it is often referred to as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.

Zittrain also works on the Chilling Effects - a site that allows recipients of cease and desist notices to post them and learn more about their legal rights.

THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET AND HOW TO STOP IT
Last night, Jonathan Zittrain basically went through a list of the many ingenious malware plots that exist all around us with the idea that the bad guys are infecting our machines. While Zittrain is completely right, he didn’t really leave audience members with a definitive sense of what to do. Buy his book? Join Stop Badware? Deploy viruses that combat other viruses? Patch security holes one by freaking one?

I get the sense that security and online policing protocol is a lonely place to be. Wired Magazine just published a Q&A on Zittrain’s book if you want more answers. I may read it on my Christmas vacation. Ah who am I kidding? I'll probably read some US Weekly.

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