Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
gelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the
air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat. In China, Germany, France, Russia,
Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by
erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for
a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing
media."
In Barlow's view, the decentralized and pervasive nature of the Internet would itself put
down all attempts at censorship and regulation. "Your increasingly obsolete information
industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere that
claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be an-
other industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, whatever the human
mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global convey-
ance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish. These increasingly hostile
and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom
and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We
must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to con-
sent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one
can arrest our thoughts. We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be
more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before."
Six years before, Barlow had co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
with Mitch Kapor, former president of Lotus Development Corporation, and John Gilmore,
an early employee of Sun Microsystems. The aim of these three men - who, by the way,
first "met" each other in the digital space of the WELL - was to focus on civil liberties is-
sues raised by new technologies. The organization has done so magnificently ever since. In
large measure due to the diligence of the EFF, much of Barlow's vision for the Internet has
remained intact - though certainly not all.
Many governments now control the ability to switch the Internet - or at least
much
of
the Internet - on or off at will for the bulk of their citizenry. And laws in the United States
and elsewhere continually nibble away at various Internet freedoms. In the pinch, however,
technological innovation continues to trump bureaucracy, and probably always will.
"Look at how people have used online tools to advocate, organize, and recruit," com-
ments Howard Rheingold. "Liverpool used to be the major port for England. Dock author-
ities offered a buyout package to close the port for commercial traffic. The dock workers
went on strike, and used the web to mobilize other dock workers worldwide. Look at Radio
station B92. The Serbian government shut down the radio station and everything went to
the web. People are being able to use the medium effectively. Racists and Nazis do this too.
Everyone gets the advantage. The tool does not automatically make something that is dull
exciting. It extends our ability for people to continue to communicate, to organize, get the
word out, diffuse information, to create a community network."
