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EFF Founder John Perry Barlow Has Died At Age 70 (eff.org)
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that its founder, John Perry Barlow, has passed away quietly in his sleep this morning. He was 70 years old. From the report: 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."
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."
RIP John, your legacy lives on and continues to do good. May more of us leave that kind of a positive impact on the world we leave behind.
If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
I support EFF proudly and donate regularly, and have for years. If you depend on the Internet for any part of your livelihood, I encourage you to do the same. It wasn't invented to be a surveilled shopping mall. It's supposed to be for you, individually, to use as you will. EFF helps you in this effort.
Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
If you use Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com) EFF is one of the charities that can receive donations from your Amazon purchases.
A Little Light
Blown Away
We Can Run But We Can't HIde
Picasso Moon
I Will Take You Home
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines
Hell in a Bucket
Throwing Stones
My Brother Essau
Feel Like A Stranger
Lost Sailor
Saint of Circumstance
Easy to Love You
I Need a Miracle
Heaven Help the Fool
Estimated Prophet
Lazy Lightnin'
The Music Never Stopped
Finance Blues
Let It Grow (Weather Report II)
Black-Throated Wind
Walk in the Sunshine
Looks Like Rain
Cassidy
Mexicali Blues
Here's an old TAL segment about him meeting the love of his life (at the time):
https://www.thisamericanlife.o...
I've run into John many times over the years. He was one of the tech industry's most colorful people. From the alcohol fueled parties at Comdex to the dusty plains of Black Rock City, John has been an iconic presence. He was one of the father's of modern technology. He will be so missed. He had much more to do too... it's really a shame his health got in the way. If you want to learn more about who he was, a great example of his brilliant writing is in his essay, "The Pursuit of Emptiness"
"It was never intended to be used by individuals..."
Back then, I had friends at Tektronix who opposed the Internet becoming available to everyone.
He also sued the hell out of the oil and gas companies in Wyoming. They were ripping through fences, bulldozing roads through pastures etc. So he sued them. They laughed. Little did they realize they were up against a multi-millionaire who had made beau coup bucks as a rock star. The companies lost.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Looks like someone's lost his host files and his meds...
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Soros was 14 when the war ended. About a year older than you are now, I'm guessing.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
A good man whose work will continue! Godspeed!
It warms my heart to see so many Slashdot friends from the old days commenting on this article. I first heard of Barlow and the EFF via Slashdot, back during the 1998 COPA protests. He helped open my eyes to the idea that the old laws for old technology were going to have unintended consequences when applied to new technology. He made me interested in activism, and his accomplishments still inspire me.
The internet has changed a lot since the late 90's, but the struggle between freedom and safety continues. May we never stop thinking about the consequences of going too far in either direction.
Your fantasies contain the seeds of important concepts.