Esther Dyson

CNET, Release 1.0
Esther Dyson
Few aspects of life anywhere on the planet offer as much freedom as the internet. The internet allows people freely to choose the information they wish to see and it offers the freedom to display any information. Therefore, there is an unprecedented amount of choice available to users, but at the cost of a lack of certainty about the source of information.

Regulating the Internet is a controversial subject, but Esther Dyson wades headlong into the fray with her opinions in this talk from Accelerating Change 2005. She argues that the best way to regulate systems characterized by freedom is to cede control to the users, and to give them tools to regulate the community; examples of these systems include wikipedia, flickr and vizu. There also needs to be a balance between the ability to authenticate identity and protect the possibility of anonymity.

Since the knowledge base of its users varies so much, rules for internet communities need to be carefully designed. More than one system needs to be employed in order to offer security to new users while maintaining robust opportunities for people with advanced knowledge. Regulation of the internet should be, in Esther Dyson's words, a way to empower people to do things without giving them power over each other.

IT Conversations' publication of this program is underwritten by your donations and:

Unlimited Web Conferencing for One Flat Rate

With GoToMeetingâ„¢, you can instantly hold Web conferences to present, train and collaborate. Sign up for your free 30-day trial today. Click Here

Esther Dyson is editor at large at CNET Networks, where she is responsible for its monthly newsletter, Release 1.0, and its PC Forum, the high-tech market's leading annual executive conference. As editor at large, she also contributes insight and content to CNET Networks' other properties. She sold her business, EDventure Holdings, to CNET Networks in early 2004. Previously, she had co-owned EDventure and written/edited Release 1.0 since 1983.

At Release 1.0 and in her private investment activities, Dyson focuses on emerging technologies, emerging companies and emerging markets. Among the topics she has covered for Release 1.0 recently are social software and social networks, registries of people and things, the Internet, the transformation of e-mail to "Meta-mail," identity management, and the use of "consumer" Internet services such as Yahoo! eBay and Google by small businesses.

Resources:

This program is one of a series from IT Conversations coverage of the Accelerating Change 2005 conference held September 16-18, 2005 at Stanford University.

For Team ITC:

This free podcast is from our Accelerating Change series.