What lies around the corner for the Internet .. and how do we avoid it? How can we study and affect the future of the Internet using the distributed power of the network itself? This is Jonathan Zittrain's inaugural lecture at the University of Oxford. This inaugural lecture by Professor Jonathan Zittrain proposes a theory about what lies around the corner for the Internet, how to avoid it, and how to study and affect the future of the internet using the distributed power of the network itself, using privacy as a signal example. Jonathan Zittrain holds the Chair in Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University and is also the Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Visiting Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. His research interests include battles for control of digital property and content, cryptography, electronic privacy, the roles of intermediaries within Internet architecture, and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education.