Tech visionary Lawrence Lessig made a sobering prediction Tuesday at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference: "There's going to be an i-9/11 event," he said, "an event that demonstrates the instability of the Internet, and that inspires the government to a response."
He said he believes this digital disaster - a major hacker attack or other act of cyber-terrorism in the next 10 years - will prompt the U.S. government to clamp down on Internet freedoms in an online parallel to the Patriot Act.