It has been 61 years since the 1945 Memex article, and so much has changed since then that we might well wonder whether the article is still worth looking at. It certainly inspired some of the leading figures in information technology, but now it seems to be cited either for things it did not really say, or because everything it proposed has been pretty much accomplished, albeit with alternate technology. If we take another look at the Memex description, though, there are a few key ideas that can still be goals in terms of an easy-to-use personal collection that is a supplement to one's own memory. Perhaps in today's terms, the device would be a combination of the iPod design and a tablet computer. As such, it could function as a handy information pod, with certain Memex features, serving as an extended personal memory.

During the 1970s, computerized information‐processing networks have been established on a large scale linking much of the world. It has generally been accepted that the massive transborder data flows involved will have serious social, political, and economic consequences. Since 1973, a growing number of nations has enacted legislation attempting to forestall any adverse social effects of the transborder digital traffic. During the next few years, several world bodies will finalize policies on transborder data flow, and international laws or treaties may be called for. Unfortunately, the analysis of the extent of transborder data traffic, as well as of attendant social effects, is merely beginning. This article attempts to summarize what has been suggested so far as a move toward focusing the question of social effects.

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