Some Internet users say putting the manifesto on the World Wide Web may help the FBI find the Unabomber … People who know each other through electronic messaging and online services – could ferret out the identity of the Unabomber.
Predictor: Brand, Stewart
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 Chicago Sun-Times article about the Unabomber, an American terrorist who wrote a manifesto titled “Industrial Society and Its Future,” the point is the popularity the piece gained on the Internet at the time. Reporter Mark Fisher writes: ”Some Internet users say putting the manifesto on the World Wide Web may help the FBI find the Unabomber. ‘This is something a lot of us have been pushing for a couple of months,’ said Stewart Brand, a founder of the WELL, a San Francisco-based electronic conferencing service. Brand says the virtual community – people who know each other through electronic messaging and online services – could ferret out the identity of the Unabomber. Brand says it reminds him of a Frank Zappa concert. Someone threw a bottle of beer at Zappa, and the musician stopped the concert until the culprit was found out. As Brand describes it, the attention of the crowd began in the far reaches of the auditorium. They looked toward the origin of the thrown bottle. Then the next wave of people looked toward the spot. Then the people around the bottle thrower looked to the spot. Finally only one person wasn’t looking at anyone else. The security guards hustled him out. ‘With any luck,’ Brand says. ‘this could happen on the Net.'”
Biography:Stewart Brand founded Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link (WELL) in 1985 with Larry Brilliant. This was one of the first and most intellectually active online “communities.” (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: September 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Crime/Fraud/Terrorism
Name of publication: Chicago Sun-Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Unabomber’s Words Find An Audience
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=efdf713de0f66b53c8b6f1f8ecd55d9c&_...
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Bradshaw, Lindsay