By MILO SYBRANT
Observer Staff

The freedom that prevailed during the Internet revolution of the past 30 years is being threatened by the counter-revolution of industry and government regulation, said Wikipedia legal counsel Mike Godwin on Saturday during a talk at American University.

Observer photo by MILO SYBRANT
Mike Godwin discusses the Internet.

Godwin, who has been legal counsel for the online encyclopedia since July, said that the counter-revolution was fueled by exaggerated fears about computer hackers and social conservatives’ reaction to the availability of pornography on the Web.

“The beginnings of the personal computer revolution were about empowering people to do new stuff,” Godwin said. “The counter-revolution is about stopping people from doing stuff.”

Godwin’s presentation was part of the Innovators’ Forum, a speakers series hosted by American University’s Center for Social Media.

While Godwin criticized regulation, he said that not all of the developments associated with personal computing and the Internet have been positive. The ability for a Web user to make another individual’s private information available to the public is one harm that was not as pervasive before the Internet, Godwin said.

“As with any new technology, this is one of the things we have to learn to cope with,” Godwin said.

Not surprisingly, Godwin doesn’t propose leaving the future of personal computing to fate.

“We need to make conscious choices about what kind of future we want to have,” he said.