Scores by kind of claim
Each kind of claim is scored on its own, out of 100: the share that held up, with the range it likely falls in. Fewer resolved claims give a wider range.
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Factual claims
Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
67 61 73 -
Predictions
Statements about events outside the person's control, checked once they fell due: did they come true?
60 44 76 -
Promises
Commitments to the person's or organisation's own future action, with something to deliver: was it delivered?
Insufficient record: 0 promises resolved, 5 needed for a score.
All types combined: 66 (likely 61 to 72, high confidence), from 105 claims: 94 factual claims, 11 predictions. It mixes kinds of claim in different proportions for different people, so compare people kind by kind.
Marc Andreessen's claims
105 claims · page 2 of 2
| Verdict | Kind | Said | Claim | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mostly true | Factual | Jun 1995 | The Mosaic team designed Mosaic with end users as its target. Factual · Jun 1995 | Technology |
| Mostly true | Factual | Jun 1995 | Internet access was never free; it always cost money. Factual · Jun 1995 | Economics and markets |
| Resolved true | Factual | Jun 1995 | After the company shipped product in December, its revenues went from zero to a level where it was pretty much able to fund the bulk of its work and development. Factual · Jun 1995 | Economics and markets |
| Resolved true | Factual | Jun 1995 | Yahoo was started by Ph.D. students at Stanford. Factual · Jun 1995 | Technology |
| Mostly false | Factual | Jun 1995 | Leaving aside access into the home, general bandwidth is improving in price-performance, or dropping in price, faster than microprocessors, by a factor of about four each year. Factual · Jun 1995 | Economics and markets |
“It was never free.”
Marc Andreessen, Netscape founder and COO June 1995 Smithsonian Oral and Video Histories: Marc Andreessen (Smithsonian)
Internet access was never free; it always cost money.
Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.
The second judge would not resolve this claim; the verdict shown is the first judge's.
What would count as true or false
Judge as of June 1995. Read in context as a claim that internet access always cost someone money, i.e. was never free (funded by governments, universities or users). True: historical evidence shows internet access through 1995 was always paid for by some party (ARPA/NSF funding, institutional fees, commercial ISP charges). Mostly true: this is generally so but with minor exceptions (e.g. free community Freenets) that do not undercut the point. Mixed: free access, at no cost to anyone involved, was significant enough to undercut the claim partly. Mostly false or false: substantial evidence shows widely available genuinely free internet access. If the context shows a narrower meaning (e.g. 'free to end users'), judge it on that meaning, recognizing that many university users paid nothing directly.
Evidence
- Free-Net History: The Rise and Fall of Community Dial-Up Tedium · 13 April 2022
“In the '80s, a defining online phenomenon—being able to use the internet for free—came from (of all places) Cleveland.”
- Free-Net History: The Rise and Fall of Community Dial-Up Tedium · 13 April 2022
“This created a clear dichotomy—while Free-Nets offered free internet, it was not the version of the internet people were talking about, the one with the web.”
- Guide to Internet Access In Southern California Los Angeles Times · 27 September 1995
“Services/Prices: PPP: $15 annual fee, $15 for graphic interface, unlimited hrs., sessions restricted to 1 hr. e-mail, USENET.”
- Guide to Internet Access In Southern California Los Angeles Times · 27 September 1995
“Services/Prices: Shell, SLIP: $25 set-up fee, $19.95/mo. for 40 peak hrs., $2 each addit’l peak hr, unlimited non-peak hrs.; UUCP; e-mail; FTP; USENET”
Reasoning
E3 and E4 are 1995 listings from Southern California internet providers, and both show charges: annual fees, set-up fees and monthly fees. That supports the claim that someone generally paid for access. E1 and E2 show one exception. Community Free-Nets, which started in Cleveland in the 1980s, let people use the internet at no charge, though E2 says this "was not the version of the internet people were talking about, the one with the web." The resolution criteria name Free-Nets as an example of a minor exception that does not undercut the claim, so the verdict is mostly true.
Cite this claim
Marc Andreessen, “Internet access was never free; it always cost money.” (said June 1995). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_cd4a3e62d304, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_cd4a3e62d304
Claims without a verdict
Is a verdict here wrong, or do you speak for Marc Andreessen? Reply on the claim's own page, with the form at its foot (how replies work). Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts and scores are made.