If online providers are liable for any exposure of indecent material to children, people under the age of 18 will be shut out of this technology or relegated by the government to sanitized “kids-only” services that contain only a tiny fraction of the entire Internet. That would be the equivalent of limiting today’s students to the childhood section of the library or locking them out completely.
Predictor: Leahy, Patrick
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 congressional press release, the comments made by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) at a hearing on cyberporn and children include the following: ”If online providers are liable for any exposure of indecent material to children, people under the age of 18 will be shut out of this technology or relegated by the government to sanitized ‘kids-only’ services that contain only a tiny fraction of the entire Internet. That would be the equivalent of limiting today’s students to the childhood section of the library or locking them out completely. This is not how this country should face the increasingly competitive global marketplace of the 21st century.”
Biography:Patrick Leahy was a U.S. Senate member who played an important role in Congressional discussions of the Internet in the 1990s. (Legislator/Politician/Lawyer.)
Date of prediction: July 24, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Censorship/Free Speech
Name of publication: Congressional Press Releases
Title, headline, chapter name: Congressional Action: Statement of Senator Leahy at Hearing on Cyperporn and Children, the Scope of the Problem, the State of the Technology and Need for Congressional Action
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=5d15882f4ffc75728b8dd01a9419ad2f&_docnum=12&wchp=dGLbVzz-lSlzV&_md5=03c277f2c8fb0aa368fe9db6b7b360e0
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney