In all likelihood what will happen, and what we think ought to happen [is that government will provide funds to schoools] to buy access the same way you buy a telephone line. It will take 20 years to wire the whole country with fiber, and you could do this very soon.
Predictor: Weitzner, Daniel J.
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for The Boston Globe, Charles Radin quotes Daniel Weitzner. He writes:”‘[Vice President Al] Gore talks about building a fiberoptic network to schools,’ said Daniel Weitzner fo the Washington-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology-development advocacy group, ‘but in all likelihood what will happen, and what we think ought to happen’ is that government will provide funds to schoools ‘to buy access the same way you buy a telephone line. It will take 20 years to wire the whole country with fiber, and you could do this very soon.’ The Internet planners and users hope the government also will obligate companies offering Internet connections and other Internet services to provide service to institutions and individuals without regard to the content of the communications as long as illegal activities are not involved. Such a rule, called ‘common carriage,’ exists now for telephone companies and would, applied to the Internet, ‘become the First Amendment of the information age,’ Weitzner said. This sort of non-discriminatory approach has been the rule so far on the Internet – if such a loosely organized, informally run organization can be said to have rules.”
Date of prediction: January 2, 1993
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Boston Globe
Title, headline, chapter name: 20 Million Drive the Information Highway; It’s Time to Open the Internet to Every Computer User, Planners Say
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=2592a235acf329142c1c3ed7a7aaa201...
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney