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Remembering Our Roots
corky6921 writes: "I recently stumbled onto a fascinating article that was written by John Perry Barlow, a founder of the EFF and an early member of the WELL. It was written in 1990, but manages to bring up many of the issues that we still have today, namely "What are data and what is free speech? How does one treat property which has no physical form
and can be infinitely reproduced?" This article discusses the history of free software, the hacker movement, and the burgeoning difference between Internet newbies and Internet gurus. An important read for all who want to know the viewpoint of law enforcement regarding the Internet, as well as to understand the increasing paranoia from the U.S. government about "criminals" who steal copyrighted material." It occurs to me that a lot of people on the 'net today probably don't know anything about the events Barlow is describing, so I think this is worth posting even if it is 'old news' to some of you.
I was severely on the net when this all happened. Hackers were everywhere. The government was all freaked out, worrying about J. Random Hacker starting WWIII. Meanwhile, I was a college student who used to work for a small game company run by a guy named Steve Jackson. One afternoon, the Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games, looking for evidence (that they never found) about a game called Hacker (for a lot more information, read the absolutely essential book "The Hacker Crackdown," which has been mentioned here more than once). The next week, I woke up one Saturday morning, fired up the computer, and was ready to have a nice easy morning of cartoons and Usenet. There was a knock on the door. Looking out the peephole, I saw two young men in suits, carrying briefcases. Being a rational sort, I immediately thought "The Secret Service!" I opened the door.... "Hello! Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior...?
Textfiles.com just went 3.0 and now has over 30,000 textfiles online, many more than the 9,000 I had two years ago when Slashdot first reported on it. Sadly, it's fallen out of favor; attempts to let Slashdot know about both the talks I've given at DEFCON and the updates to the site have gone into the submission bin.
There was an amazing couple of online battles fought in the courts and the media in the early part of the 1990's. It's good to read what was actually said, instead of poor paraphrases from people who didn't actually experience it even second-hand. Come visit the site; I'll appreciate your time.
... is very difficult for information as it is neither rivalable nor excludable. Reading information does not deplete the source of information and you cannot prevent another person from using that information. Our traditional concept of common-law property has been built on these two assumptions, leading to the economics of scarcity and pricing accordingly. Given there is infinite information, artificial scarcity is a short-term illusion as sooner or later, a substitute comes up (e.g. opensource Linux for OS). Ultimately social probium (ie peer pressure) is the only solution for anti-social activities. Stealing data (unless a genuine trade secret), apart from the mebarassment factor, is rather self-defeating as a fair whack of it is useless (e.g. nobody worries about cron-logs). IF you make the assumption that traditional property rights are rather suspect, then the only thing you have left are people's time/space/convenience preference which you can charge for.
... identity theft is one, a good reputation (the only real currency in the hacker world) can be destroyed so easily. The relative anonymous nature of the internet is another (why do so many people choose handles?) gives rise to behaviour (e.g. written abuse that you wouldn't dare say to the same person face-to-face. However, they are not technical problems ... most societies/groups/tribes evolve ettiquette as a means of smoothing interaction. Emoticons is one example in the current internet incarnation. I suspect there will be others (e.g. picons=personal icons). Another question is how do you define (and defend personal space), not merely from criminal but commercial intrusion. Have an ad pop up in the middle of sending virtual snuggles with your better half is not exactly a mood-enchancer. How does one set boundaries that everyone can recognise? The concept of justice ... if someone transgresses, how can corrective behaviour be applied? Given that most people have actually a very small social circle, coming in contact with a mob of (perceived) social misfits is shock (and they probably think you're a uncool square). Gates communities are comforting precisely for the fact that they reinforce pre-existing biases (no matter how ill-concieved).
However, there are some new worries
Technical hacks are no solution to social cracks.
LL
I hate to sound like Katz, but things really are changing. The thing that tech types have which many people don't is a passion for communication and information. Ideas are shared faster and with more clarity in the tech subculture than in any other group. Eventually, those ideas started leaking into mainstream culture, and we now see concepts and opinions once expressed only in text files passed around BBSes being expressed on CNN and in Time magazine. Napster, Linux, Open Source, Encryption are all words being discussed in restaurants, classrooms, workplaces, not just your buddy's basement over a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
And it all started out with guys like John Perry Barlow, who wrote things like that way, way back in the day.
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