Compared with the uncoordinated, small-scale use of facsimile machines by dissidents in China and the former Soviet Union, the rapidly growing Internet holds the promise of great speed and scope.
Predictor: Lewis, Peter H.
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for The New York Times, Peter Lewis covers the potential for the Internet as a communications tool for oppressed people, quoting Gara LaMarche of Human Rights Watch. He writes: ”Compared with the uncoordinated, small-scale use of facsimile machines by dissidents in China and the former Soviet Union, the rapidly growing Internet holds the promise of great speed and scope. Messages travel from one Internet site to another, even around the world, in seconds … And because information travels in ‘packets’ of data that are typically scattered and reassembled at the receiving site, it is much harder to intercept or trace messages. ‘The notion of using the Internet to transcend international boundaries that have been used to suppress information is a very visionary one,’ said Gara LaMarche, associate director of the Human Rights Watch, an international human rights monitoring organization based in New York.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Censorship/Free Speech
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: On the Internet, Dissidents’ Shots Heard ‘Round the World
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=75cc536da274a2bb21cc43d8766d9658&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVlb-lSlzV&_md5=f2c11f20d896095f4ba0f26c19e6f891
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney