IP: Independence & Cyberspace

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: "John F. McMullen" <johnmac () acm org>
>
> As we celebrate the independence of the American Government, it seems to me
> that it is a good time to consider the implications of that drive for
> independence upon the present attempts to govern this new wilderness which
> we call "Cyberspace". A good starting point for this considersation, it
> further seems to me, is the "Declaration of Independence" written in 1996 by
> John Perry Barlow and it follows these comments (Barlow should need no
> introduction to anyone receiving this mailing; if more background on JPB is
> desired, go to his Web page).
>
> Following Barlow's Declaration is a July 5, 1999 editorial by ZiffDavis'
> Jesse Berst (slightly edited to eliminate "Click for more"s - go to the
> links at the end of the editorial for more information on the points
> mentioned in the outline) concerning immediate threats to cyberspace
> freedom. These issues are real and, unfortunately, unthought of by most. To
> live in this world, we will have to understand it and take charge of it.
> Happy Independence Day!
>
> A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
>
> Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I
> come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask
> you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no
> sovereignty where we gather. We have no elected government, nor are we
> likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that
> with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space
> we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to
> impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any
> methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear. Governments derive their
> just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor
> received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know
> our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that
> you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You
> cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective
> actions. You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor
> did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture,
> our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more
> order than could be obtained by any of your impositions. You claim there are
> problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to
> invade our precincts. Many of these problems don't exist. Where there are
> real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address
> them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract . This governance
> will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is
> different. Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought
> itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours
> is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies
> live. We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or
> prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of
> birth. We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her
> beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence
> or conformity. Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity,
> movement, and context do not apply to us. They are based on matter, There is
> no matter here. Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot
> obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened
> self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge . Our
> identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only
> law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the
> Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on
> that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.
> In the United States, you have today created a law, the Telecommunications
> Reform Act, which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams of
> Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis. These
> dreams must now be born anew in us. You are terrified of your own children,
> since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants.
> Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental
> responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world,
> all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the
> angelic, 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. 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
> another 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 conveyance 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 consent 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.
>
> Davos, Switzerland February 8, 1996
> ****************************************************************
> John Perry Barlow, Cognitive Dissident Co-Founder, Electronic Frontier
> Foundation Home(stead) Page: http://www.eff.org/~barlow
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------------------
>
> Net Freedom Under Attack
> http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/adem2fpf/www.anchordesk.com/story/story_3566.ht
> mlJesse Berst, Editorial Director
> Monday, July 05, 1999
>
> First Al Gore "invented" the Internet.
> Now he and his kind want to control it.
> It's bad enough when self-serving politicians take credit  for other
> people's work. But when they want to manipulate  and milk it... that's where
> we need to draw the line.
> We are in the midst of a digital revolution that brings  with it tremendous
> freedoms... and tremendous risks. If  we are not vigilant, the Internet of
> tomorrow will be  under the sway of politicians, bureaucrats and demagogues.
> In the U.S., for instance, politicians are already launching  "bold"
> Internet initiatives in anticipation of the 2000  Presidential race.
> Believe me, these attempts to shanghai the Internet are  not limited to any
> particular political party or any particular  country. The threats to our
> digital freedom are widespread  and growing:
> American censorship: The Child Online Protection Act was  shot down by the
> courts earlier this year, but the U.S.  government is appealing. If the
> government wins, the law  could have far-reaching effects on legitimate Web
> sites,  while doing little to reduce the exploitation of children.
> International censorship: China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore  and Australia have
> all passed legislation to "filter"  content on the Internet.
> Internet taxes: The American moratorium on Internet taxes  will expire.
> Recent hearings in Congress point to an Internet  sales tax.
> Privacy:  Ecommerce exposes us to increased fraud and  manipulation. The
> government is poised to enforce standards.  A good thing, in theory perhaps.
> But dangerous if we let  the government go too far.
> Favoritism: On the same day U.S. House Republicans were  touting their
> "E-Contract," the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer  Protection Act was
> introduced in the Senate. As BusinessWeek's  Mike France points out, the
> bill gives existing corporations  first rights to the best Web
> addresses-screwing all  the startups fueling this new economy.
> Those are a few of the threats to our Internet independence.  What can we do
> about them? Fortunately, we have a number  of weapons on our side...
> including the power and influence  of AnchorDesk's readership, as I explain
> below.
> The threats outlined are very real. Fortunately,  there are several easy
> ways to help the Internet preserve  its independence.
> Understanding the issues. You must know your enemy before  you can defeat
> it. A good place to start is with the latest  news stories and permanent
> links we've assembled in our  Briefing Centers. Start with Net Politics:
> Jesse's Town  Hall, then click to Privacy. Another good source is
> IntellectualCapital.com's  Business & Technology section. Click for more. Or
> Policy.com's  Virtual Congress pages. Click for more.
> Power in numbers. The Internet affords a tremendous opportunity
> to join forces to influence decisions. We've seen that
> firsthand here at AnchorDesk with our MAD petitions, Software
> Money-Back Guarantee, and more recently, the Privacy First
> campaign.
>
> I also expect Netizens to play
> a key role in the next U.S. Presidential election. Click
> for more. Plus, there are numerous organizations working
> to protect the Internet-and you. Turn up the volume
> by adding your voice:
>
> Center for Democracy and Technology
> Global Internet Liberty Campaign
> Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
> Electronic Frontier Foundation
> Truste
> Freedom Forum Online
> Internet Society
>
> Consumer protection guidelines. A move is underway to  set voluntary
> guidelines for electronic commerce. Theoretically,  this concept would give
> consumers the protection they  need while keeping control away from red-tape
> bureaucrats.  AnchorDesk is supporting this initiative, and we hope  we can
> return soon to report real progress.
> Use the TalkBack link to recommend other ways to safeguard  Net freedoms. Or
> join my Berst Alerts forum where a discussion  is underway.
> READ MORE:
> Jesse: Power to the People - ZDNet AnchorDesk
> http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_3090.html
> How to Protect Ourselves From Electronic Invasion - ZDNet AnchorDesk
> http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_3216.html
> TalkBack Files: What Readers Are Saying - ZDNet AnchorDesk
> http://www.zdnet.com/chkpt/adem2fpf/www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/talkback/talkba
> ckindex.html
> DOJ Appeals: What's Next for COPA? - ZDNN
> http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2237110,00.html
> Australia Senate passes Net control bill - ZDNN
> http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2266715,00.html
> GOP, Demos Woo High-Tech - ZDNN
> http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2281517,00.html
> Tax-Free Web Goods May Disappear - ZDNN
> http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2281815,00.html
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> DISCUSS:
> Jesse's Berst Alerts
> http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/adem2fpf/www.anchordesk.com/disgroups/disgroups
> _54.html
> TOPICS:
> Net Politics: Jesse's Town Hall
> http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/adem2fpf/www.anchordesk.com/topics/topics_357.h
> tml
> Privacy
> http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/adem2fpf/www.anchordesk.com/topics/topics_365.h
> tml
>
>
>
> "When you come to the fork in the road, take it" - L.P. Berra
> "Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" - Pierre
> Abelard
> John F. McMullen
> johnmac () acm org ICQ: 4368412 Fax: (603) 288-8440
>  http://www.westnet.com/~observer
> http://www.westnet.com/~observer/Y2KCOACH.html (Y2K Site)