As lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argue his case at the Moakley federal courthouse in downtown Boston, Benjamin G. Edelman ’02 looks nonchalant, occasionally scrawling a word or two on the notepad in his lap.

Edelman is seeking court permission to investigate Seattle-based software company N2H2’s Internet filtering software, which is used in libraries and schools to block pornography and other offensive sites.

He says the filtering software threatens free speech by weeding out harmless sites—like ones promoting breast cancer awareness—along with offensive sites, without telling the consumer.

The ACLU lawyers are, with difficulty, holding off a motion to dismiss the case brought by N2H2’s lawyers.

The case, Edelman v. N2H2, is just one stage in Edelman’s crusade to protect free expression on the Internet, he says.

The young crusader, whose career began when he started fixing his parents’ and neighbors’ computers at the age of 13, is now widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading experts in Internet law.

His clients have included the National Football League and The New York Times, and he’s been quoted in media around the world, ranging from Reuters to The South China Morning Post.

He’s often cited as a “Harvard researcher,” an ambiguous title that conjures up the image of a middle-aged professional test-tube-mixer or survey-taker.

Edelman is anything but.

He’s a self-conscious but sharp 22-year-old who graduated from Harvard College last year, an economics concentrator and a huge fan of punk rock and roller coasters. Edelman, a shy, soft-spoken first-year law student who could pass for a high school senior, says he doesn’t know what he wants to do after he graduates from Harvard Law School (HLS).

But he does know what he wants to do when he gets home from court: his homework.

The Road Less Travelled

The son of two lawyers, Edelman grew up in a TV-free household, he says, and as a child he was out of step with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-loving classmates.

Like many members of Generation X, his interest in computers began with his family’s personal computer.

When he was in his early teens, other kids his age were mowing lawns and delivering newspapers to make extra cash.