In short, the non-proprietary feature of the standards, maintained by volunteer groups of engineers under the mantle of The Internet Society, is what accounts for their phenomenal trajectory and velocity over the last fifteen years.

FORBES: Is Digital Utopianism Dead?

The last great myth of our society is that anything on the internet is free.

FORBES: FTC Scolds Children's App Makers Over Privacy Issues: A Privacy Expert Responds

But according to John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, complying with government censoring efforts is a "wildly expensive thing" for Internet firms to do.

FORBES: Google's Free Trade Agenda

The other is the spread of the internet and mobile telephony that have transformed society.

ECONOMIST: The Beijing Olympics

Today Zimmermann is a fellow at the Stanford Law School Center For Internet and Society, and focuses on Zfone, an encryption scheme for VoIP phone calls.

FORBES: Symantec Acquires Encryption Provider PGP For $300 Million

"The human element is always the most insecure, " says Jennifer Granick, executive director of Stanford's Center for Internet and Society.

FORBES: Accounting For Human Error