CYBERLAW 2002

1
CYBERLAW 2002

• Professor Susanna Frederick Fischer
• Class Two Cyberspace vs. "Real Space" The
  Independence of Cyberspace?
• August 28, 2002

2
DEADLINES REMINDER

• E-mail any preferences for class maven topics to
  Professor Fischer at fischer_at_law.edu by 500 p.m.
  on August 30
• If you dont send me a preference list and
  havent already done so, please send me an e-mail
  by 500 p.m. on September 4

3
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.

4
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace

• Who wrote this document? What do you know about
  the author?
• When?
• Why?
• To whom is it addressed?

5
John Perry Barlow

• Former Wyoming cattle rancher
• Former Grateful Dead lyricist
• Co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  Vice Chairman of the Board
• Fellow at Harvard Law Schools Berkman Center for
  Internet and Society

6
Barlow On the Crash

• Being an Internet guru isnt what it used to be.
  I lost probably 95 of my net worth. But its
  been good for the Internet, and in the long term
  its going to be very good for the
  dot-communists.

7
Barlow A 20th Century Thomas Jefferson?
8
Comparing The Two Declarations

• Authorship
• Rhetoric
• Structure
• Content
• Purpose
• Effect

9
Responding to the Critics

• Attacks on Barlows declaration
• Barlows response

10
Barlow in 2000

• I suppose I should come up with a revised
  edition. I want to make it more obvious that I
  didnt think that cyberspace was sublimely
  detached from the real world. It bears the same
  relationship to the physical world that the mind
  does to the body.
• KEY CYBERLAW THEME How Is Cyberspace different
  from real space, if at all?

11
Regulation By Real Space Governments

• What are some examples of the way real-space
  governments currently regulate cyberspace? Do
  they have the consent of those governed? Does
  this render Barlow's Declaration meaningless? 

12
Can, Should Cyberspace Be Regulated and Who
Should Regulate?

• To what extent do you think cyberspace can and
  should be governed and regulated? Who can and
  should govern and regulate cyberspace?
• Do we need government to effectively deal with
  problems that plague cyberspace, like spam?

13
Barlow in 2000

• Id also probably make it slightly less
  strident. I was angry when I wrote it.

14
Barlow on the Internet

• I think that the Internet is the most
  extraordinary thing thats happened in the
  history of humanityWere talking about creating
  an organism that is based on all human mind, the
  collective organism of consciousness.

15
Barlow on Becoming an Internet Guru

• Thats what its about. A broke down cattle
  rancher from Wyoming with no background
  whatsoever can become an internet guru in a
  fairly short period of time on the basis of
  nothing but the strength of his ideas.

16
Happy Labor Day

• Enjoy your long weekend!!