Zittrain on the future of the internet

Computerworld has a nice interview with Jonathan Zittrain, a StopBadware co-director and professor at Oxford and Harvard. Zittrain has just published a new book, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, looking at the consequences decreasing openness can have for the capacity for innovation, which he calls “generativity.”

Zittrain explains how badware and other online ills can threaten the future of innovation online:

[T]he qualities that make generative systems good make them susceptible to abuse when they become successful. Then, the natural reaction of many people is to retreat. So there is a migration to “locked down” information appliances, like the iPod, that are not programmable by third parties. And you are increasingly seeing the PC itself locked down in places like offices and schools.

If you’re in the Boston or New York City areas, consider joining us to celebrate the release of Professor Zittrain’s new book. For information, see the Berkman Center’s events page.