John Perry Barlow, Internet Pioneer, 1947-2018 | Electronic Frontier Foundation

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

There is so much to say about John. The many years at the EFF board with him. The great memories. So much to remember. 

Dave

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/john-perry-barlow-internet-pioneer-1947-2018

John Perry Barlow, Internet Pioneer, 1947-2018
Cindy CohnFebruary 7, 2018
With a broken heart I have to announce that EFF's founder, visionary, and our ongoing inspiration, John Perry Barlow, 
passed away quietly in his sleep this morning. We will miss Barlow and his wisdom for decades to come, and he will 
always be an integral part of EFF.

It is no exaggeration to say that major parts of the Internet we all know and love today exist and thrive because of 
Barlow’s vision and leadership. He always saw the Internet as a fundamental place of freedom, where voices long 
silenced can find an audience and people can connect with others regardless of physical distance.

Barlow was sometimes held up as a straw man for a kind of naive techno-utopianism that believed that the Internet could 
solve all of humanity's problems without causing any more. As someone who spent the past 27 years working with him at 
EFF, I can say that nothing could be further from the truth. Barlow knew that new technology could create and empower 
evil as much as it could create and empower good. He made a conscious decision to focus on the latter: "I knew it’s 
also true that a good way to invent the future is to predict it. So I predicted Utopia, hoping to give Liberty a 
running start before the laws of Moore and Metcalfe delivered up what Ed Snowden now correctly calls 'turn-key 
totalitarianism.'”

Barlow’s lasting legacy is that he devoted his life to making the Internet into “a world that all may enter without 
privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth . . . a world where 
anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or 
conformity.”

In the days and weeks to come, we will be talking and writing more about what a extraordinary role Barlow played for 
the Internet and the world. And as always, we will continue the work to fulfill his dream.




-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125
Unsubscribe Now: 
https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20180207183708:CDB9DB88-0C5F-11E8-8A39-CF62D606E711
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com