Freedom on the Internet

Vivek Shankar, ZDNet India,
October 25, 2000

A product of the 60s - the hippie dream - and now vice chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and author of 'A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace', John Perry Barlow shares his thoughts during his visit to India.

Cyberspace is a compelling word and the man who first applied it to this context was John Perry Barlow. Barlow is quite a compelling man himself, he co-wrote lyrics for Grateful Dead - the biggest cult rock'n'roll band that ever was.

In 1990 he co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, www.eff.org, an organization which promotes freedom of expression in digital media. He currently serves as its vice chairman. And true to his anti-establishment ways, in 1996 he authored the now literary A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.

During his visit to India John Barlow spoke to a minority audience at the Nehru Center, Mumbai. The turnout of the 'minority audience' from the Indian cyberspace was quite disheartening and well, distressing. Maybe, a majority of us are simply unaware of the tremendous censorship we face on the Internet.

Barlow initially started off with a monologue of his views concerning India and the Internet revolution. He spoke of the Indian Government's IT ACT 2000 and he is quite terrified of it and our government, itself. "You should resist government regulation - they're trying to enforce previous agreements as far as bandwidth in your country go. I've seen buildings in New York, which have more bandwidth than your country. The data rates in this country are very good for patience." The audience presently let go a nervous laugh. No laughing matter this.

"You have to be impatient now", advocated Barlow and urged every Indian to fight for his right for bandwidth. He also envisioned models of business for India, which are not imitated and often stressed that India should leapfrog over the Industrial Economy to the New Economy.

Barlow is convinced that this leap frogging will make India the IT superpower we all dream of. And he also emphasized on the role of the village peasant in this revolution. "They're not a problem anymore, they're your opportunity." Barlow felt that the need the villages will feel the need to educate themselves to be competent enough to use a computer. Leap frog the agricultural economy.

He also warned the audience of "the American entertainment industry and its wholly owned subsidiary, the US Government." They advocate the dread-word 'content' and feel there's no difference between a toaster and a song. "A song comes out of the heart, not a toaster." Barlow also criticized the notion of 'the distributors are the owners'.

Quoting figures from the record sales in the US, Barlow said the real piracy is happening in the music industry and not Napster; of $17 billion CD sales the artists just made a mere 4 percent of that. He'd rather that the artist gets paid indirectly.

Barlow illustrated the Grateful Dead model where the band encouraged taping of their concerts and the redistribution of the tapings among fans for non-commercial purposes. It will be heartening for the reader to know that bands such as Phish, and the Dave Mathews Band, among many others are following this model.

Unfortunately, like Grateful Dead, such bands and the ethics Barlow advocates of are still cult-based. When questioned whether the Internet was the epitome of counter culture, which he stood for in his youth in the freedom evangelistic 60s, he agreed and said that the present generation - which is his children's generation - will do a much better job of it.

Barlow said his generation was too self-indulgent and the new generation is quite tactful in its own way. "These kids today smile at authority when told what to do but then turn away and do whatever they had to in the first place."

Of particular interest was the term - Technarchy used by Barlow. In the true 60s spirit, he said the 'bad' would just fade away and the good would come up to the top in a bubble-sort of a way. He was referring to the products from Redmond and quite proudly showed off his Macintosh laptop. "Let it take care of itself." The need for diversity of systems was also stressed on by him and illustrated with quite a staggering figure - the NSA has about 28,000 different operating systems.

Increased tolerance would be the most formidable ally in the fight for free speech in cyberspace, said Barlow. He questioned authorities and censor bodies - "What gives you the right?" Freedom of speech, said he, is "the tolerance of listening to the son of a bitch you don't like." It is also the freedom not to listen.

It was indeed a dij' vu of the 1960s with John Perry Barlow, a definitive flower child, speaking about freedom and a system of the people. A dreamer? Maybe, but this man does not have a "monochromatic view of large corporations".

His 18-year-old daughter Leah agrees with most of his vision. It is quite an experience to listen to Barlow with the vigour and conviction he speaks with. Some may wonder - is this hippie still on LSD? Who cares; it is age, which has not made a cynic and a non-believer out of him. He advocates for freedom because he wants to be a good ancestor - the grateful dead? No longer. The future, does, lie in your hand.