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A second critical uncertainty that gets a great deal of attention here is the way businesses and Internet users will treat intellectual property. The majority of respondents believed that the clash over free file sharing by Internet users and copyright holders is unresolved and will play out indefinitely in courts, legislatures, and even on technology platforms. Their bias is against companies that are too stringent in their restrictions and toward users wanting to sample, share, and remix material. And they dread the prospect that businesses will marshal resources to preserve their current advantages. At the same time, the responses of this group indicate there is nothing approaching a consensus position on where a new equilibrium might be struck that would satisfy both camps. They expect conflict, but cannot collectively see how it will end.
A third critical uncertainty rests at the social and cultural level: How will people behave toward each other in an environment where so much more can be known about others and where people have less control over their privacy? These respondents have a clear expectation that people will wittingly or unwittingly disclose more about themselves, gaining some benefits in the process of losing their privacy to varying degrees, as governments and corporations escalate the collection and analysis of personal data. In the process of addressing our specific query about the social benefits and harms of transparency, these experts showed that they expect behavior and interpersonal relations to change. Yet, they are not as clear about the new social norms and elements of etiquette that will emerge.
A final uncertainty relates to how information markets will perform. How will important truths be upheld or discovered when the process of publishing and broadcasting becomes open to all This group hopes the ever-greater flow of information and communication will bring the world closer to essential truths. Yet, they wonder if an “information market” corollary of Gresham’s law will prevail: that bad information will drive out good. As some framed the question, will gossip, spin, disinformation, degraded commercial speech, and the bleating of the ignorant overwhelm serious news and consequential views in the marketplace of ideas