Objectionable material would be a tiny fraction of the vast materials available on the Internet. What we should protect is one of the greatest experiments we have seen in our age of the Internet, where you have everything from the things you find most valuable to things you might find boring or repulsive.
Predictor: Leahy, Patrick
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article published on his official Senate Web site, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) makes the following statement regarding censorship and freedom of speech on the Internet: ”Will some things get on the Internet that you, I, and other Members of the Senate might find objectionable? Of course, it will. But this objectionable material would be a tiny fraction of the vast materials available on the Internet. What we should protect is one of the greatest experiments we have seen in our age of the Internet, where you have everything from the things you find most valuable to things you might find boring or repulsive.”
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: December 14, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Censorship/Free Speech
Name of publication: Press Release - Leahy Home Page
Title, headline, chapter name: The Role of Department of Justice and Internet Protest
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.senate.gov/~leahy/press/199512/951214.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Little, Brandi W.